Talk:Demographics of Iraq

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Comment

Prof Mehrdad R. Izady, creator of the Iraq demographics map, is a Kurdish nationalist. See, for example: "Manifesto of the Kurdish people," Monday, March 31, 2003 (For the Creation of a Free, Independent and Unified Homeland) at http://www.kurdmedia.com/articles.asp?id=9020

His ethnic/religious map of Iraq, therefore, is in all likelihood politicized in favor of the Kurds.

One example: a more reliable estimate of the Turkmen population of Iraq is 5.5%, rather than 2%. See http://www.unpo.org/article.php?id=261

That is an article about a Tibetan demonstration in Vienna. Is it maybe a different link? Tom Harrison ^Talk 21:02, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The correct link on the Turkmen population is http://www.unpo.org/article.php?id=2610 . Probably the original contributor simply cut off the "0" digit in copying it. I think that the estimates in that article are rather hazy, however. On the other hand, I also believe that Izady's map is extremely biased and inaccurate. There is always, from him and others, an attempt to cut down the Sunni Arabs, who simply have to be more of the population to have maintained their authority for so long. Also, a careful study of Iraq censuses for geographical distribution of census numbers can produce some approximations about percentages of the population. Based on these, I would say that the Sunni Arabs are about 25%, the Shi`i Arabs 54%, the Sunni Kurds 15%, the Shi`i Kurds 2%, the Turkmen 2%, and the Christians now less than 2%, maybe even less than 1%, as most have fled. Going back to the map, note that the Kurdish areas are considerably exaggerated at the expense of the Sunni Arabs, that Samarra is a Sunni town, so that the spot of Shi`i Arab population there is exaggerated and should only include the Shi`i town of Balad, that the area immediately south of Baghdad is Sunni, not Shi`i, so that Baghdad is almost surrounded by Sunni territory, and that there are many mixed areas, including Shi`is in the extreme north. While the Shi`i Arabs are clearly overwhelmingly more numerous than the Sunni Arabs, the preponderance of former must not be exaggerated; it is more on the order of two to one than three to one. The election results, despite fabrication that has happened, also tend to back these estimates. Finally, if the Sunni Arabs were really so few, why is it that the Shi`i Arabs seem to be so afraid of a unitary state in which they would be the majority? 151.197.127.15 23:46, 10 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Furthermore, I would like it if this article would take care to refer to the effects on population of the killing of some hundreds of thousands of Iraqis under the sanctions regime of 1991-2003, the killing of some 655,000 during the war from 2003 to the present, and the displacement of some 2,000,000 refugees outside of Iraq altogether and 1,700,000 inside Iraq, for a total of 3,700,000 refugees. If we assume the population now is 27,000,000, probably a maximal estimate, this would mean that some 13.7% of all Iraqis, almost one in seven, are refugees. As few of these are Kurds, the proportion among other groups is even higher. Refugees outside of Iraq should not be counted as part of the population there. 151.197.127.15 23:48, 10 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

net migration rate

The article claims that the net migration rate is 0, which is actually sth what i cannot really believe. According to a radio comment, it was said, that more than 10% of the iraq population left the country after the american invasion until now. Does anyone know any qualified sources for this?.--LugPaj 14:51, 18 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

yeah, I dunno who made this, only in Jordan and syria there are at least two millions now.

oh it was based on CIA fact book ................ figures

Yes -follow the BBC reports on the refugee crisis and the exodus. See the article Refugees of Iraq. Dogru144 09:23, 16 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Chaldean community

How did the Chaldean community get ignored in this article? (They are distinct from the Assyrian community.) Dogru144 09:21, 16 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I now see: I saw, by an editor's page (an editor from this community), that Assyrian is the ethnic group, Chaldean is the branch of Christianity. Dogru144 09:44, 16 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Turkoman

You can read this: "Arabic and Kurdish are official languages. Assyrian and Turkmen are official languages in areas where the Assyrians and Iraqi Turkmen are located respectively." on this location: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq#Demographics .

Iraqi Turkmens use a dialect of Azerbaijani Turkish in their daily life, but they use Turkish (of Turkey) as a written language.

So why isn't Turkish listed in the text ???!!!!!

I am Iraqi, and it is true that Turkish is very widely used in areas with a Turkmen population concentration. It is not only used in homes, but in public, especially in some places like Kerkouk. Turkish is a more common language that Aramaic, which many Assyrians don't even speak. Nabuchadnessar (talk) 17:21, 4 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Turkish is a more common language that Aramaic, which many Assyrians don't even speak - wow what does that even mean? What do you mean Aramaic isn't spoken in Iraq? Chaldean (talk) 19:59, 4 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Chaldean: Lol sorry, my facts weren't that straight then. I was trying to say that Turkish is a more commonly spoken language than Aramaic in Iraq - which is spoken in Iraq also - but according to what I heard (might be wrong), not as much people speak Aramaic as speak Turkish in Iraq. This is no more than word of mouth, and it might also be due to the Assyrian diaspora (out of Assyrian homeland). Also, a lot of Turkomen we know don't speak Turkish. Nabuchadnessar (talk) 10:42, 27 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Iraqi Arabization

Despite majority Iraqis being described as 'Arabs', they are ethnically the decendants of the indiginous semetic Aramaic-speaking population that were Arabization by Arabian Peninsula tribes that converted them to Islam. Reference -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabization#Syria.2FIraq_7th_century Can someone please place that bit of info in, as it is written with other Arabized populations like the Syrians and Sudanese. Thanks. Nabuchadnessar (talk) 17:26, 4 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Other Wikipedia articles can't be used as sources Chaldean (talk) 20:00, 4 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Ok, thanks Chaldean, but I think it is kind of obvious, as it talks about the geneological decent briefly in the Syrian people section. I'll edit it now, without deleting the sourced material like you said, so it wont be vandalism ;). Nabuchadnessar (talk) 16:19, 26 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

African Iraqis & Zanj Rebellion

Google yields

about 1,890 for "african iraqis".

a lot of which are new in response to their forming a slate for the next round of elections, inspired by Obama's presidency. What i heard (probably Rachel Maddow) said there are are 300,000 of them (15 times the storied Marsh Arabs). They are descendants of slaves dating back as far as the first millennium, and Zanj Rebellion may be our only coverage of them. As a start, i inserted one sentence at Iraq#Demographics:

About 300,000 Iraqis are of African descent, reflecting African slavery practiced there starting before the Zanj Rebellion of the 9th century.

--Jerzy•t 18:58, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]