| Status |
| Independent republic under partial UN control |
| Surface |
| 434,000 km² |
| Inhabitants |
| 17,000,000 |
| Capital |
| Baghdad |
| Day of independence |
| July 14 (this is the date of the coup in 1958, while the day of independence was originally October 3, 1932) |
| Head of state |
| Saddam Hussein |
| Languages |
| Arabic (official), Kurdish |
| Currency |
| Dinar 100 dinars=US$0,10. US$1=1000 dinar |
| Cities |
| Baghdad (3,2 million) Basra (620,000) Mosul (570,000) Arbil (340,000) |
Iraq has a subtropical climate,
with a tendency in direction of continental climate in the north. Iraq
is very dependent on water from Tigris and Euphrates, as there is little
rain falling here. Annual rainfall in inhabited areas varies between 150
mm (south) and 700 mm (north). Baghdad has middle temperatures varying
between 10oC and 34oC. Winters can be very cold up
in the mountains in the north, which take up less than 5% of all of Iraq
territory. The area of the two rivers, where most people now live, is swampy,
but irrigation is extensively used to help agriculture- in an attempt to
go back to the millennias of Mesopotamian civilizations. The west and south
is desert, taking up 35% of total area, and is mostly stone desert.
Iraq is now apparently back to old borders, after the northern region (north
of 36o latitude (about 10% of total area)), was recaptured in
military actions in September 1996.