140 likes | 288 Views
IRAQ. Information from CIA World Fact Book 2010. The Takbir (Arabic expression meaning "God is great") in green Arabic script is centered in the white band. Type of government parliamentary democracy
E N D
IRAQ Information from CIA World Fact Book 2010
The Takbir (Arabic expression meaning "God is great") in green Arabic script is centered in the white band
Type of government • parliamentary democracy • legal system based on European civil and Islamic law under the framework outlined in the Iraqi Constitution • Religion • Shia Muslim 60%-65% • Sunni Muslim 32%-37% • Christian or other 3%
Ethnic groups • Arab 75%-80% • Kurdish 15%-20% • Other 5% • Language • Arabic • Kurdish • Capital city • Baghdad
Geography/Climate • mostly desert; mild to cool winters with dry, hot, cloudless summers • northern mountain regions along Iranian and Turkish borders experience cold winters with occasionally heavy snows that melt in early spring, sometimes causing extensive flooding in central and southern Iraq
Environmental Issues • inadequate supplies of potable water • development of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers system • air and water pollution • soil degradation (salination) and erosion • desertification
Economy • Currency = dinar • Mixed economy, mostly market • Economy is based primarily on the petroleum market, which is responsible for about 95 % of all the earnings that the country makes
Natural resources • petroleum, natural gas, phosphates, sulfur • wheat, barley, rice, vegetables, dates, cotton; cattle, sheep, poultry • Major Industry • petroleum, chemicals, textiles, leather, construction materials, food processing, fertilizer, metal fabrication/processing
History (founding of country) • Site of a number of ancient Mesopotamian civilizations, including Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, and Babylonia • The region fell to Cyrus the Great of Persia (6th century B.C.), Alexander the Great (4th century B.C.), Arabs (7th century), and later to the Ottoman Turks (16th century). • It was established as an independent kingdom in 1921 and became a republic after the assassination (1958) of Faisal II
The British created the kingdom of Iraq in 1921 and occupied Iraq again during World War II (1939 - 1945). • The monarchy was restored following the war, but a revolution caused its downfall in 1958. • Following a series of military coups, the socialist Ba‘ath Party, eventually led by Saddam Hussein, took control and established totalitarian rule in 1968. • The Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s and the Persian Gulf War in 1990-91 caused extensive death and destruction. • In 2003, during the Iraq War, the Ba‘ath Party was driven from power.
GDP • $112 billion • $7,200 per capita • 25% of population below poverty level • Population • 28,945,569
Literacy rate • total population: 74.1% • male: 84.1% • female: 64.2% • Life expectancy • total population: 70 years • male: 69 years • female: 71 years