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Population growth in Iraq raises concerns

Iraq's population is steadily growing, raising concerns about a future economic crisis and the government's inability to provide basic services to citizens.
An Iraqi woman holds her baby at a children's hospital, in eastern Mosul, Iraq April 26, 2017. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui - RC1A821B53D0

British Ambassador Jonathan Wilks warned at a press conference last month that, at its current rate of growth, Iraq's population would increase by a million people per year. Iraq's Central Statistical Organization announced soon after, on Oct. 1, that the country’s population had reached about 38 million in 2018, and that Baghdad’s population had reached more than 8 million.

While Iraq has not conducted any comprehensive census since 1997, these figures, combined with the rising unemployment rate, indicate an imbalance between the growing population and the availability of services.

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