ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Region accounts for 14 percent of Iraq's total population, according to the preliminary results of the recently-conducted nationwide census announced on Monday. “The Kurdistan Region’s population is 6,370,668 people, including locals and foreigners,” KRG Planning Minister Dara Rashid said during a press conference in Erbil. Earlier on Monday, Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani announced that Iraq’s population stands at 45,407,895, including foreigners and refugees residing in the country. The announced result accounts only for the population of the Kurdistan Region’s provinces and some subdistricts in the disputed areas, according to Rashid. “The rate of urban population in the Kurdistan Region is 84 percent, the rate of rural population in the Kurdistan Region is 16 percent,” Rashid said. According to the results, 1,279,163 families in the Kurdistan Region, with the average family size being 4.6 persons, Rashid stated. Rashid noted that the population growth rate in the Kurdistan Region is at 2.48 percent. Regarding the gender distribution across the country, Rashid said there are 3,200,506 males living in the Kurdistan Region accounting for 50.24 percent of the population, and 3,170,162 females, accounting for 49.76 percent. Women comprise 11.86 percent of heads of households in the Kurdistan Region, while men make up the remaining 88.14 percent. Rashid noted that 31.9 percent of the population is under working age (15 years old), while 63.7 percent are at working age, and 4.4 percent of the population is over working age (65 years and older). “This data tells us that the Kurdistan Region has a young population,” Rashid said. The number of housing units in the Kurdistan Region reached 2,028,937 units, without proving details. Iraq, and the Kurdistan Region, held its long-awaited population census last week. It 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 next phase of the census will run over the next two months, before announcing the final results. The final results will include detailed information on health, education, employment, and housing conditions, according to Iraqi planning ministry spokesperson Abdul Zahra al-Hindawi.
