Shwan Jabar, assistant director of the population census in the Kurdistan Region, told Rudaw that census teams will visit households across the Kurdistan Region to record data between November 16-19.
“On November 20 and 21, enumerators will visit the households and review the data,” Jabar said, with a curfew set to take place across Iraq and the Kurdistan Region during the two days.
People from the oil-rich and disputed province of Kirkuk, as well as other areas disputed between the federal Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), will be required to return to their hometowns during the census period, according to Jabar.
In early October, preparations for the census process began in the Kurdistan Region, sparking concerns among Kurds about potential demographic shifts in disputed areas and complications regarding the status of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.
Jabbar emphasized that guarantees were made to Kurds who voiced concerns about the census during a meeting of the Iraqi Council of Ministers last week.
The census registration system will close at 12:00 am on November 21, he said.
Approximately 60,758 graduates have also registered their names to be temporarily employed for the Kurdistan Region’s census process, while only 17,000 will be needed. A lottery will determine who gets to be employed.
On Tuesday, Iraq’s Council of Ministers approved a KRG request to conduct the census based on the residents’ place of origin rather than their current residence, using the 1957 census for reference in the disputed areas.
The decision also indicates that KRG representatives can be present at data centers in Baghdad for transparency.
Iraq last conducted a census in 1997, excluding the provinces of the Kurdistan Region. The last census involving the Kurdistan Region was in 1987.
Estimates now put Iraq’s population around 50 million. A census planned for 2020 was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Iraq commenced its first phase in September by surveying and counting buildings.
The ethnicity question had been a key obstacle to conducting a census between Baghdad and Erbil. In April, Iraq said it would carry out the census without surveying its citizens on their ethnicities.
A census could contribute to the resolution of many problems like Baathist-era Arabization, the status of disputed Kirkuk, and the KRG’s share of the federal budget.
