Iraq's population exceeds 46M, with education ratio of less than 16%

ANKARA

Iraq announced on Monday that the country's population has surpassed 46 million, a slight increase from the preliminary figure revealed following the census, which was conducted in November of last year, almost after four decades.

Iraq's population has increased to 46.118 million, up from the preliminary figure of 45.4 million announced in November 2024, the Iraqi state news agency INA reported, citing the Planning Ministry.

According to the ministry, 70.17% of Iraq's population lives in cities, while 29.83% live in rural areas. In northern Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), 84.57% of the population live in urban areas, and 15.43% live in rural areas.

The report also showed that the illiteracy rate in Iraq is 15.31%, while in the KRG, it is slightly up 16.23%.

The average marriage age is 22.24 years, with males at 24.06 years and females at 20.7 years, it added.

The November census covered the entire country, including northern Iraq's Kurdish region, and was the first in 37 years.