8 Billion Lives
Be born

Where you could be born / Asia / Western Asia

Born in Iraq

About 1 in 114 people born in 2023 started life in Iraq. A boy can expect to live 70 years and a girl 74, up from 34 and 41 in 1950. Most people live in cities, and nearly everyone has basic drinking water.

1 in 114
odds of being born here
1.2 million births · Ranked 26th of 230
70 / 74
years of life, boys / girls
Was 34 / 41 in 1950
$4,730
income per person a year
2021 dollars · Ranked 127th of 203 · extrapolated
70%
live in a city
The rest live in villages

Life and health

Life lasts about 35 years longer than in 1950. Child deaths fell from 358 in every 1,000 births to 23.

How long a life lasts

GirlsBoys

020406080195019852023

Years a baby born that year could expect to live.

Children who die before age 5
0100200300400195019852023

In every 1,000 births.

Life expectancy at birth70.4 years for boys, 74.1 for girlsUN WPP 2024
Children who die before age 522.8 in every 1,000 birthsUN WPP 2024
Deaths a year186,000UN WPP 2024
Doctors per 1,000 people1.0World Bank WDI
Children immunized against measles97%World Bank WDI
Adults living with HIV0.1%World Bank WDI
New tuberculosis cases a year23 per 100,000 peopleWorld Bank WDI

Family

Women had 6.2 children on average in 1950. Now it is 3.3.

Children per woman
02468195019852023

Average over a lifetime.

Children per woman3.25UN WPP 2024
Average age of mothers at birth28.6 yearsUN WPP 2024

Money and work

If every 100 coins of income were shared out, the richest fifth would hold 39 and the poorest fifth 9.

Who gets the income
Share of all income by fifth of the population, 2023
9%Poorest fifth
13%Second
17%Middle
22%Fourth
39%Richest fifth
Income per personabout $4,730 a year (2021 dollars, adjusted for prices)World Bank PIP, scaled between survey years Extrapolated
Share of income going to the richest fifth / poorest fifth39% / 9% (2023)World Bank PIP
Unemployment15.2% of the workforce (2023)World Bank WDI
Price rises4.4% a year (2023)World Bank WDI
Growth in output per person-1.7% (2023)World Bank WDI
Jobs in farming8% of jobsWorld Bank WDI
Self-employed32% of jobs (2025)World Bank WDI
Secondary school enrolment51% (can pass 100 when older students are counted)World Bank WDI

Daily life

The largest city is Baghdad, with 7.2 million people.

70%
live in cities
100%
have electricity at home
98%
have basic drinking water
Largest cities
People living there
Baghdad7.2 million
Mosul1.7 million
Erbil1.6 million
Basrah1.3 million
Karbala1.2 million
Languages
Share of people who can use each
Arabic68%
English35%
Central Kurdish12%
Kurdish10%
Azerbaijani2%
Arabic, Central Kurdish, Azerbaijani is official.

Cities and regions

Every state, province and large city with a page.

Largest regions

Baghdad9.7 million
Basra2.4 million
Erbil2.3 million
Nineveh1.9 million
Sulaymaniyah1.6 million
Karbala1.4 million
Kirkuk1.1 million
Duhok992,200
Babil926,851
Dhi Qar872,126

Sourced: GeoNames Population of each state, province or region.

Large cities

Sourced: GeoNames Cities with a page: a million people or more.

All 19 regions
  • Baghdad9.7 million
  • Basra2.4 million
  • Erbil2.3 million
  • Nineveh1.9 million
  • Sulaymaniyah1.6 million
  • Karbala1.4 million
  • Kirkuk1.1 million
  • Duhok992,200
  • Babil926,851
  • Dhi Qar872,126
  • Salah ad Din749,486
  • Diyala634,865
  • Wasit625,385
  • Anbar619,674
  • Najaf615,765
  • Al-Qadisiyah465,550
  • Maysan382,711
  • Muthanna200,138
  • Halabja57,333

People on the move

About 5.0% as many people born here live abroad as live here. The most common destinations are Turkey, United States, Germany.

Where people born here live abroad
By country of residence, 2024
Turkey403,670
United States272,370
Germany263,918
Residents born abroad0.8% (2024)World Bank WDI
People born here who live abroadequal to 5.0% of the people who live hereUN DESA migrant stock
Where they go mostTurkey (403,670), United States (272,370), Germany (263,918)UN DESA migrant stock
Money sent home from abroadabout $757.0 million a year (2025)World Bank WDI

Safety nets

49% of older people receive a pension. Help for someone who loses a job reaches 0%.

49%
of older people receive a pension (2022)
0%
of unemployed people receive a benefit (2022)

Events in the data

The game draws real events from these records, so a life lived here can meet them.

Reported COVID-19 deaths, 2020 to 202425,375Our World in Data, from WHO
Significant earthquakes recorded since 19501; the deadliest, in 1991, killed about 20 people (magnitude 5.1)NOAA NCEI
Deaths in organized violence127,241 between 1989 and 2024UCDP

Now live it.

Born in Iraq, to a family drawn from these numbers. Every life replays exactly from its seed.

Be born in Iraq

Elsewhere in Asia

All countries

How to read the sources. Every figure is sourced to a named dataset, shown beside it. A figure marked "Extrapolated" is estimated by a model because no survey covers the year. UN figures are for 2023, the latest year of UN estimates; other figures are the latest year their dataset has. Rank 1 is the highest figure among 230 countries and territories. All sources and licences