Despite Iraq’s vast natural resource wealth the country suffers
from high rates of poverty. The United Nations just released data on Iraq’s
battle with that problem. It provided statistics comparing 2007 with 2011.
Those are important dates because they are during and after the civil war.
Obviously while there was widespread fighting in the country poverty could not
be combatted and likely got worse with the loss of jobs and displacement. Therefore
comparing those two years showed how much progress or lack thereof that the
government made going from conflict to a relatively peaceful period.
Between the two years 11 of Iraq’s 18 provinces saw a
decline in their poverty rates, while seven of them went up. Sulaymaniya
was by far the best. It went from 1.8% of the population living below the
poverty level of $2.50 per day to just 0.3%. Dohuk and Baghdad saw
a moderate decreases as well from 5.8% in 2007 to 4.9% in 2011 and 7.5% to 2.8%
respectively. Governorates that had high poverty and dropped to a lower level
were Najaf
that went from 15.4% to 8.1% and Salahaddin,
which had the largest decline of any province going from 27.8% to 6.9%. Other
provinces also saw declines, but were still over 10%. Those included Babil,
25.4% to 10.9%, Diyala,
18% to 10.3%, Karbala,
26.2% to 11.4%, Wasit,
27.8% to 17.1%, Qadisiyah,
38.2% to 19.2%, and Muthanna,
38.2% to 29.4%. The governorates that were going in the opposite direction were
Basra
that jumped from 3.3% to 16.1%, Ninewa
that went from 13.3% to 26%, and Dhi Qar,
20.9% to 37.8%. Anbar,
12.2% to 12.5%, Irbil,
1.5% to 2%, Kirkuk
4.1% to 4.2%, and Maysan,
12.6% to 16.4%, saw only minor increases. Without further data it is impossible
to tell why the poverty rates changed. Salahaddin for example dropped 20.9% the
most of any province. One could speculate that poverty went down there because
it was largely cleared of insurgents, but then Anbar, which was another
militant base barely changed staying at just over 12%. On the other hand Basra,
which is the home to the majority of Iraq’s oil and signed deals with foreign
companies in 2009 saw a large increase of 12.8% from 2007 to 2011. The changes
were not related to the provincial development plans either. Dhi Qar for instance
spent
75% of its capital budget in 2010, which goes towards investment and yet
its poverty rate increased from 2007 to 2011.
Poverty In Iraq 2007
To 2011
Province
|
2007
|
2011
|
Difference
|
Anbar
|
12.2%
|
12.5%
|
+0.3%
|
Babil
|
25.4%
|
10.9%
|
-14.5%
|
Baghdad
|
7.5%
|
2.8%
|
-4.7%
|
Basra
|
3.3%
|
16.1%
|
+12.8%
|
Dhi Qar
|
20.9%
|
37.8%
|
+16.9%
|
Diyala
|
18%
|
10.3%
|
-7.7%
|
Dohuk
|
5.8%
|
4.9%
|
-0.9%
|
Irbil
|
1.5%
|
2%
|
+ 0.5%
|
Karbala
|
26.2%
|
11.4%
|
-14.8%
|
Kirkuk
|
4.1%
|
4.2%
|
+0.1%
|
Maysan
|
12.6%
|
16.4%
|
+3.8%
|
Muthanna
|
38.2%
|
29.4%
|
-8.8%
|
Najaf
|
15.4%
|
8.1%
|
-7.3%
|
Ninewa
|
13.3%
|
26%
|
+12.7%
|
Qadisiyah
|
38.2%
|
19.2%
|
-19%
|
Salahaddin
|
27.8%
|
6.9%
|
-20.9%
|
Sulaymaniya
|
1.8%
|
0.3%
|
-1.5%
|
Wasit
|
27.8%
|
17.1%
|
-10.7%
|
When broken down by region it is apparent that Kurdistan is
the most well off part of Iraq, while the south is the poorest. Sulaymaniya, 0.3%,
Irbil, 2%, and Dohuk, 4.9%, had three of the five lowest poverty rates in Iraq.
In comparison, Dhi Qar, 37.8%, Muthanna, 29.4%, Qadisiyah, 19.2%, Wasit, 17.1%,
Maysan, 16.4%, and Basra, 16.1%, were all at the bottom. Many Sunnis have been
complaining that their areas have been neglected by the central government, but
when it comes to poverty at least Sunni areas do quite well with the exception
of Ninewa, 26%, which has the third highest poverty rate, and that is a mixed
province anyway.
Despite Iraq’s progress half of its provinces are still
above the national poverty rate of 11%. Some of those at the bottom such as Dhi
Qar and Muthanna have two to three times that level. At the same time, many
provinces are moving in the right direction, and there are seven governorates
that have less than a 10% poverty level. More importantly, four of those are
outside of Kurdistan, showing that the rest of the country can deal with the
problem effectively in some cases. More research needs to be done into each
province to find the reasons why some are progressing, and some are getting
worse. Unfortunately, Baghdad’s main solution to the problem is to hire more
government workers. That is a highly inefficient and costly measure to take,
but plays well with the political class that are used to socialist measures and
can use the employees to expand their patronage networks. Much more effective
policy needs to be created to solve this nagging problem.
SOURCES
Joint Analysis Unit, “Anbar Governorate Profile 2013,”
February 2014
- “Babil Governorate Profile 2013,” February 2014
- “Baghdad Governorate Profile 2013,” February 2014
- “Basrah Governorate Profile 2013,” February 2014
- “Dahuk Governorate Profile 2013,” February 2014
- “Diyala Governorate Profile 2013,” February 2014
- “Erbil Governorate Profile 2013,” February 2014
- “Kerbala Governorate Profile 2013,” February 2014
- “Kirkuk Governorate Profile 2013,” February 2014
- “Missan Governorate Profile 2013,” February 2014
- “Muthanna Governorate Profile 2013,” February 2014
- “Najaf Governorate Profile 2013,” February 2014
- “Ninewa Governorate Profile 2013,” February 2014
- “Qadissiya Governorate Profile 2013,” February 2014
- “Salah al-Din Governorate Profile 2013,” February 2014
- “Sulaymaniyah Governorate Profile 2013,” February 2014
- “Thi-Qar Governorate Profile 2013,” February 2014
- “Wassit Governorate Profile 2013,” February 2014
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