Iraq
Census enumerators recording information from a house in Erbil province on November 20, 2024. Photo: Bilind T. Abdullah/Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The second phase of Iraq’s population census has been completed and preliminary results will be released this week, the Supreme Census Authority announced on Saturday.
The authority declared “the successful completion of the second phase of the census, known as the family registration phase, which lasted three days” and said “preliminary results will be announced within the current week.”
The Kurdistan Region’s planning ministry in a statement also announced the end of the second phase of the census in the Kurdistan Region and the disputed areas, and urged the residents of the disputed areas to cooperate in the next phase of the census.
“To complete the efforts and dedication shown by citizens, we urge everyone to participate in the next phase of filling out the detailed census forms. The previous phase only provided the number of families and their members, along with some other useful information. However, to fully benefit from this significant process, it is crucial that the detailed census forms are accurately completed,” read the statement.
This is Iraq’s first nationwide census since 1987. It last conducted a census in 1997, but that did not include the Kurdistan Region. A census planned for 2020 was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Iraqi government on Thursday decided to extend the recording process into Friday after enumerators were unable to complete registering all residents over the two days originally allocated.
The results will focus on “steering development efforts toward their correct objectives, ultimately improving service delivery and achieving the desired economic growth,” added the statement from the census authority.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) earlier this month warned against the census being used for political reasons, especially in the disputed areas, and stressed that the process should not be “used as a substitution for mechanisms stipulated in Article 140.”
Article 140 lays out normalization steps in the disputed areas that have been subjected to demographic changes, including the return of lands and properties to their original owners and a census of the population.
The authority declared “the successful completion of the second phase of the census, known as the family registration phase, which lasted three days” and said “preliminary results will be announced within the current week.”
The Kurdistan Region’s planning ministry in a statement also announced the end of the second phase of the census in the Kurdistan Region and the disputed areas, and urged the residents of the disputed areas to cooperate in the next phase of the census.
“To complete the efforts and dedication shown by citizens, we urge everyone to participate in the next phase of filling out the detailed census forms. The previous phase only provided the number of families and their members, along with some other useful information. However, to fully benefit from this significant process, it is crucial that the detailed census forms are accurately completed,” read the statement.
This is Iraq’s first nationwide census since 1987. It last conducted a census in 1997, but that did not include the Kurdistan Region. A census planned for 2020 was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Iraqi government on Thursday decided to extend the recording process into Friday after enumerators were unable to complete registering all residents over the two days originally allocated.
The results will focus on “steering development efforts toward their correct objectives, ultimately improving service delivery and achieving the desired economic growth,” added the statement from the census authority.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) earlier this month warned against the census being used for political reasons, especially in the disputed areas, and stressed that the process should not be “used as a substitution for mechanisms stipulated in Article 140.”
Article 140 lays out normalization steps in the disputed areas that have been subjected to demographic changes, including the return of lands and properties to their original owners and a census of the population.
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