IRAQ Information from CIA World Fact Book 2010

The Takbir (Arabic expression meaning "God is great") in green Arabic script is centered in the white band

Type of government parliamentary democracy legal system based on European civil and Islamic law under the framework outlined in the Iraqi Constitution Religion Shia Muslim 60%-65% Sunni Muslim 32%-37% Christian or other 3%

Economy Currency = dinar Mixed economy, mostly market Economy is based primarily on the petroleum market, which is responsible for about 95 % of all the earnings that the country makes

Ethnic groups Arab 75%-80% Kurdish 15%-20% Other 5% Language Arabic Kurdish Capital city Bagdad GDP $112 billion $7,200 per capita 25% of population below poverty level Population 28,945,569

Geography/Climate mostly desert; mild to cool winters with dry, hot, cloudless summers northern mountain regions along Iranian and Turkish borders experience cold winters with occasionally heavy snows that melt in early spring, sometimes causing extensive flooding in central and southern Iraq

Environmental Issues inadequate supplies of potable water development of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers system air and water pollution soil degradation (salination) and erosion desertification

Natural resources petroleum, natural gas, phosphates, sulfur wheat, barley, rice, vegetables, dates, cotton; cattle, sheep, poultry Major Industry petroleum, chemicals, textiles, leather, construction materials, food processing, fertilizer, metal fabrication/processing

History (founding of country) Site of a number of ancient Mesopotamian civilizations, including Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, and Babylonia The region fell to Cyrus the Great of Persia (6th century B.C.), Alexander the Great (4th century B.C.), Arabs (7th century), and later to the Ottoman Turks (16th century). It was established as an independent kingdom in 1921 and became a republic after the assassination (1958) of Faisal II

The British created the kingdom of Iraq in 1921 and occupied Iraq again during World War II ( ). The monarchy was restored following the war, but a revolution caused its downfall in Following a series of military coups, the socialist Ba'th Party, eventually led by Saddam Hussein, took control and established totalitarian rule in The Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s and the Persian Gulf War in caused extensive death and destruction. In 2003, during the Iraq War, the Ba'th Party was driven from power.

Literacy rate total population: 74.1% male: 84.1% female: 64.2% Life expectancy total population: 70 years male: 69 years female: 71 years