Iraq Travel HD Videos

National name: Al Jumhuriyah al Iraqiyah

Languages: Arabic (official), Kurdish (official), Turkmen (a Turkish dialect) and Assyrian (Neo-Aramaic) are official in areas where they constitute a majority of the population), Armenian

Ethnicity/race: Arab 75%–80%, Kurdish 15%–20%, Turkoman, Assyrian, or other 5%

Religions: Muslim (official) 99% (Shia 60%-65%, Sunni 32%-37%), Christian 0.8%, Hindu note: while there has been voluntary relocation of many Christian families to northern Iraq, recent reporting indicates that the overall Christian population may have dropped by as much as 50% since the fall of the Saddam HUSSEIN regime in 2003, with many fleeing to Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon (2010 est.)

National Holiday: Revolution Day, July 17

Literacy rate: 78.5% (2010 est.)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2013 est.): $249.4 billion; per capita $7,100. Real growth rate: 4.2%. Inflation:2%. Unemployment: 16%. Arable land: 9.19%. Agriculture: wheat, barley, rice, vegetables, dates, cotton; cattle, sheep, poultry. Labor force: 8.9 million; agriculture 21.6%., industry 18.7%, services 59.8%. Industries: petroleum, chemicals, textiles, leather, construction materials, food processing, fertilizer, metal fabrication/processing. Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, phosphates, sulfur. Exports: $91.99 billion (2013): crude oil (84%), crude materials excluding fuels, food and live animals. Imports: $66.61 billion (2013): food, medicine, manufactures.Major trading partners: U.S., Syria, Turkey, India, China, South Korea, Canada, Spain, Italy (2012).

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 1.87 million (2009); mobile cellular: 26.76 million (2009).Broadcast media: the number of private radio and TV stations has increased rapidly since 2003; government-owned TV and radio stations are operated by the publicly-funded Iraqi Public Broadcasting Service; private broadcast media are mostly linked to political, ethnic, or religious groups; satellite TV is available to an estimated 70% of viewers and many of the broadcasters are based abroad; transmissions of multiple international radio broadcasters are accessible (2007). Internet hosts: 26 (2012). Internet users: 325,900 (2009).

Transportation: Railways: total: 2,370 km (2006). Highways: total: 59,623 km; paved: 59,623 km (2012).Waterways: 5,279 km (not all navigable); note: Euphrates River (2,815 km), Tigris River (1,895 km), and Third River (565 km) are principal waterways (2006). Ports and harbors: Al Basrah, Khawr az Zubayr, Umm Qasr. Airports:102 (2013).