BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 7 (NNN-NINA) – Iraqi Prime Minister, Adel Abdul Mahdi, discussed preparations for a general population census, scheduled for autumn 2020.
The meeting, which was chaired by Abdul Mahdi, was attended by officials of the Supreme Council for Population and several ministers, including the ministers of finance, planning and migration and displacement, in addition to the planning minister of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.
Abdul Mahdi said, “The census is an important step that deserves great attention and preparations at the highest level and cooperation among all, to achieve the desired success.”
The last census in Iraq was held in 1997, except for Kurdistan’s three provinces of Sulaymaniyah, Erbil and Duhok.
The population census in Iraq has been hampered for political reasons, amid intense disagreements between Baghdad and the Kurdish regional government.
The ethnic Kurds consider the northern oil-rich province of Kirkuk and parts of Nineveh, Diyala and Salahudin provinces as disputed areas and want them to be incorporated into their region, a move fiercely opposed by the Arabs, Turkomans and the Baghdad government.
Article 140 of Iraq’s 2005 constitution calls for several steps to address the dispute over the ethically-mixed disputed areas, including census and referendum.– NNN-NINA
