Saturday, December 17, 2016

Sunnis in Iraq


One thing that I have noticed is that before an invasion American agencies that publishes statistics (e.g. CIA Fact Book) tend to skew the demographic numbers of the country that they are about to invade in USA favor. Case in point is Iraq, where Sunnis and Shias have been almost equal in number for at least last two centuries, however, by breaking the country between Arabs, Kurds and other groups, the Sunni population has been shown as just 31%!!. Recent pew survey shows that the population of Shias and Sunnis in Iraq as almost equal (http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/06/18/the-sunni-shia-divide-where-they-live-what-they-believe-and-how-they-view-each-other/).

Furthermore, a very important factor that has to be considered is that the Baghdad holds around quarter of the population of Iraq and has always been a traditionally Sunni city. Among the seven largest cities, where the population is above 1 Million people, four are solidly Sunni (Mosul, Erbil, Kirkuk, Sulimaniya), while the Shia cities are Baghdad, Basra and Hillala.

Finally, It should be considered that the number of Sunnis in Baghdad have been somewhat under stated in the table below, however, if we agree with the argument that they have migrated out of Baghdad, it does not mean that they have left the country therefore, should be included in the total Sunni population of the Country.

Governorate Population Main Ethnicity Sunni (%) Shia (%)
Al Anbar 1,561,400 Arab 92 5
Babil 1,820,700 Arab 15 85
Baghdad 7,055,200 Arab 30 60
Basra 2,532,000 Arab 3 95
Dhi Qar 1,836,200 Arab 2 95
Al-Qādisiyyah 1,134,300 Arab 2 95
Diyala 1,443,200 Arab 65 25
Dohuk 1,128,700 Kurd 95 3
Erbil 1,612,700 Kurd 95 3
Halabja 337,000 Kurd 95 3
Karbala 1,066,600 Arab 1 95
Kirkuk 1,395,600 Arab/Kurd 95 2
Maysan 971,400 Arab 2 95
Muthanna 719,100 Arab 35 65
Najaf 1,285,500 Arab 2 80
Nineveh 3,270,400 Arab/Kurd 90 2
Saladin 1,408,200 Arab 95 2
Sulaymaniyah 1,878,800 Kurd 95 2
Wasit 1,210,600 Arab 20 80
Total 33,667,600 46.826985 47.81679