By the end of 2006 the population of Iraq was estimated at 26,783,383. The population consists of 74% Arabs,21% Kurds and the remaining 5% is made up of Assyrians, Iraqi Turkmen and other ethnic groups. These ethnic groups occupy mainly the north and the northeastern part of the country.
The Persians, Armenians, Shabaks and Lurs also form a part of Iraqi population. The Muslims, consisting of 60% Shia Muslims and 40% Sunni Muslims, form the majority of the Iraq population.
About three-fourth of the Iraqi population is settled in the fertile plain stretching from Baghdad to Basra and the Persian Gulf. According to the 2006 estimate the population growth rate is 2.66%, birth rate is 31.98/1,000 population and the death rate is 5.37/1,000 population in Iraq.
The Sunni Muslim population comprises of Arabs, Turkmen, and Kurds. Besides Muslims there are small communities of Christians, Jews, Bahá’ís, Mandaeans, and Yezidis. The Ethnic Assyrians and Armenians form the bulk of the Christian population. A major proportion of the Kurds are Sunni Muslims with Shi’a Faili Kurds forming a mere 10%. The languages spoken in Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish.
Baghdad, the capital city of Iraq, is located on the banks of the river Tigris. In 1932, the population was just 358,840 nad in the last 75 years there has been a phenomenal increase. Presently the city has a population of 7.4 million. Baghdad is the second largest city both in the Arab world (the largest being Cairo) and in Southwest Asia (first being Tehran). The majority of the Baghdad population consists of Arab Muslims. The Christians form a significant part of the population while the Jews form the minority.