24.01.2008 -

The World Factbook - Population data ("CIA: The World Factbook - Iraq") [ID 9735]

"Population:  27,499,638
Age structure: 0-14 years: 39.4%, 15-64 years:  57.6%, 65 years and over: 3%
Median age: total: 20 years, male: 19.9 years, female: 20 years
Population growth rate: 2.618%
Birth rate:  31.44 births/1,000 population
Death rate:  5.26 deaths/1,000 population
Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population
Sex ratio: 1.024 male(s)/female
Infant mortality rate: total: 47.04 deaths/1,000 live births, female: 41.07 deaths/1,000 live births, male: 52.73 deaths/1,000 live births
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 69.31 years, male: 68.04 years, female: 70.65 years
Total fertility rate:  4.07 children born/woman
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: less than 0.1%
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: less than 500
Ethnic groups: Arab 75%-80%, Kurdish 15%-20%, Turkoman, Assyrian or other 5%
Religions: Muslim 97% (Shi'a 60%-65%, Sunni 32%-37%), Christian or other 3%
Languages: Arabic, Kurdish (official in Kurdish regions), Assyrian, Armenian
Literacy: (definition: age 15 and over can read and write) total population: 74.1%, male:84.1%, female: 64.2%"

Document(s): CIA: The World Factbook - Iraq

08.2007 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Iraqi population - its constituent groups ("UNHCR's Eligibility Guidelines for Assessing the International Protection Needs of Iraqi Asylum-seekers") [ID 22811]

"Generally, Sunni Muslims constitute the vast majority in most Muslim countries (an estimated 85%), but the Muslim population in Iraq is divided into a 60 to 65% majority of Shi’ites and a 32 to 37% minority of Sunni Muslims, the latter including ethnic Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen. Arabs of Sunni faith constitute between 15% and 20% of the total Iraqi population. Shi’ites in Iraq are almost exclusively ethnic Arabs, with some Kurds and Turkmen. Iraq’s Sunni Arabs are concentrated in the valleys of the Euphrates River north of Baghdad and of the Tigris River between Baghdad and Mosul in the so-called “Sunni triangle”. Around half of them live in urban areas, mainly in Baghdad and Mosul, while the Shi’ites dominate the areas south of Baghdad as well as a large portion of Baghdad, in particular Sadr City."

Document(s): Open document

08.2007 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Shabak, ethnoreligious group ("UNHCR's Eligibility Guidelines for Assessing the International Protection Needs of Iraqi Asylum-seekers") [ID 22913]

"According to the Encyclopaedia of the Orient, the Shabak are both

“a people and a religion. The Shabaks live in the region of Mosul, Iraq, and are united in culture and language, but they cover more than one ethnic group and among them there is more than one religion.”

The Encyclopaedia further explains that a large part of the Shabak is ethnically related to the Kurds and the Turkmen and subgroups of the Shabak include the Gergari, Bajalan, Hariri and Mosul. Though some identify the Shabak as Kurds, they have their own values, traditions and dresses and consider themselves as a distinct ethnic group. However, during the Arabization, the Shabak were registered as either Kurds or Arabs. Most Shabak consider themselves Muslims (mainly belonging to the Shi’ite branch of Islam, with a smaller Sunni minority), though they follow their own unique form of Islam, which includes elements of Christianity and other religions and has its own sacred book known as Buyruk, written in the Turkoman language. There is a close relationship between the Shabak and the Yazidis, and the Shabak perform pilgrimage to Yazidi shrines. The Shabak language is called Shabaki and is related to Kurdish, Turkish, Farsi and Arabic.

As there is no recent or non-politicized census, there are no clear estimates as to the number of Shabak in Iraq and estimates range from 15,000 to 400,000 persons. They predominantly reside in Mosul city (mainly on the left side of the Tigris river) and in towns and villages of the Ninewa Plain such as Nimrod, Qaraqosh, Bartilla, Basheqa and Telkep. According to Dr. Hunain Al-Qaddo, the Shabak comprise a third of the inhabitants of the town of Bartilla."

Document(s): Open document