BAGHDAD, July 11 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi Ministry of Planning estimated on Tuesday that the Iraqi population has reached 43.32 million so far in 2023, with an annual population growth rate of 2.5 percent.
A ministry statement stated that about 50.5 percent of the total Iraqi population are men and about 49.5 percent women.
It showed that the working-age group between 15 and 64 constitutes the highest percentage, reaching 57 percent of the total population, followed by the youth group under 15 years at 40 percent.
The statement also said 70 percent of the population is estimated to live in urban areas while 30 percent in rural areas, adding 50 percent of the Iraqi population live in the provinces of Baghdad, Nineveh, Basra, and Dhi Qar.
In January, the Iraqi ministry announced that the country's population at the end of 2022 had exceeded 42.24 million.
Iraq used to conduct a population census every 10 years, with the last one done in 1997. The country has not conducted any population census since the U.S. occupation in 2003.
The latest estimates come from the calculations done by the Planning Ministry's Central Statistical Organization with information obtained from the country's official institutions in accordance with international statistical standards. ■
