How many people live in Iraq right now?
Right now, according to UN estimates
48,315,606
| Today | In 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Births | · | · |
| Deaths | · | · |
| Growth | · | · |
2026 figures
- Rank by population
- 33 of 237
- Share of world population
- 0.58%
- Median age
- 21.1 years
- Children per woman
- 3.13
- Life expectancy
- 72.6 years
- People per km²
- 111
According to UN estimates, about 48.3 million people live in Iraq right now. It ranks 33rd out of 237 countries and territories by population, between Algeria and Spain, and it is home to one in every 172 people on the planet.
Every day, about 3,300 people are born there and about 560 die. Overall, the population grows by about 2,700 people a day (2.05% a year).
In 1950, about 5.7 million people lived there. Today there are 8.5 times as many. The UN expects it to keep growing for the rest of the century. By 2050 it is projected to have about 71.9 million people (49% more than today), and by 2100 about 101 million.
Half of its people are younger than 21 (worldwide, 31). Women have an average of 3.13 children each, above the 2.1 needed for each generation to replace the one before, and life expectancy at birth is 73 years (worldwide, 74). There are 111 people per square kilometer.
UN estimates up to today and projections (medium variant) from today onward.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the population of Iraq in 2026?
- Iraq has about 48.3 million people right now, according to the UN's World Population Prospects 2024. On July 1, 2026, there were 48,007,437.
- How many people are born each day in Iraq?
- About 3,300 a day (1.2 million a year). About 560 people die each day (203,000 a year).
- Is the population of Iraq growing?
- Yes: it grows by 2.05% a year, or about 984,000 people.
- What will the population of Iraq be in 2050?
- According to the UN projection (medium variant), about 71.9 million.
- Why doesn't this figure match the country's official statistics?
- The UN estimates the population of every country with the same method, based on censuses, surveys and registers, and projects it year by year. Each national statistics office uses its own censuses and registers, which may be more up to date or count foreign residents differently. That is why the figures can differ slightly.
Countries with a similar population
- Uganda 53,195,464
- South Korea 51,574,554
- Algeria 48,206,548
- Spain 47,835,423
- Argentina 46,051,054
- Afghanistan 45,427,317
More countries in Asia
- India 1,480,584,565
- China 1,411,889,037
- Indonesia 288,550,006
- Pakistan 260,627,433
- Bangladesh 178,484,145
- Japan 122,207,110
- Philippines 118,018,773
- Vietnam 102,351,256
- Iran 93,380,178
- Turkey 88,012,235
- Thailand 71,536,979
- Myanmar 55,285,209
All countries and territories →
Where these figures come from
The figures are estimates from the United Nations Population Division, published in World Population Prospects 2024 (medium variant): the reference used by international organizations and by most population counters. The UN estimates how many people there are on July 1 of each year and how many are born, die and migrate; between one date and the next, this counter spreads the change continuously, second by second.
It is not a real-time headcount: nobody can count every person in a country at once. It is the best available estimate, and it may differ slightly from the figures of each country's statistics office, which use their own censuses and population registers.