Iraq’s population exceeds 45 mln: PM

BAGHDAD, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) — Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani announced Monday that the country’s population has exceeded 45 million.
From Nov. 20 to 23, Iraq launched a nationwide population and housing census for the first time in 27 years.
In a press conference, al-Sudani said Iraq’s population has reached 45,407,895, including foreigners and refugees residing in the country, citing the preliminary results of the country’s recent general population and housing census.
About 50.1 percent of the total population are males and about 49.8 percent females, while 70.3 percent of the population lives in urban areas and 29.7 percent in rural areas.
The results also showed that the working-age group between 15 and 64 constituted the highest percentage, reaching 60.2 percent of the total population, followed by the youth group under 15 years at 36.1 percent and the elderly group over 65 years at 3.7 percent, al-Sudani said.
Iraq traditionally held a population census every 10 years, but the last was conducted in 1997 without the participation of the Kurdistan region. No census had been conducted since the 2003 U.S. invasion. ■