Syria vs. Iraq
Demographics
| Syria | Iraq | |
|---|---|---|
| Population | 20,384,316 (July 2021 est.) note: approximately 22,900 Israeli settlers live in the Golan Heights (2018) | 39,650,145 (July 2021 est.) |
| Age structure | 0-14 years: 33.47% (male 3,323,072/female 3,170,444) 15-24 years: 19.34% (male 1,872,903/female 1,879,564) 25-54 years: 37.31% (male 3,558,241/female 3,679,596) 55-64 years: 5.41% (male 516,209/female 534,189) 65 years and over: 4.46% (male 404,813/female 459,417) (2020 est.) | 0-14 years: 37.02% (male 7,349,868/female 7,041,405) 15-24 years: 19.83% (male 3,918,433/female 3,788,157) 25-54 years: 35.59% (male 6,919,569/female 6,914,856) 55-64 years: 4.23% (male 805,397/female 839,137) 65 years and over: 3.33% (male 576,593/female 719,240) (2020 est.) |
| Median age | total: 23.5 years male: 23 years female: 24 years (2020 est.) | total: 21.2 years male: 20.8 years female: 21.6 years (2020 est.) |
| Population growth rate | 5.32% NA (2021 est.) | 2.06% (2021 est.) |
| Birth rate | 23.25 births/1,000 population (2021 est.) | 25.21 births/1,000 population (2021 est.) |
| Death rate | 4.36 deaths/1,000 population (2021 est.) | 3.92 deaths/1,000 population (2021 est.) |
| Net migration rate | 34.34 migrant(s)/1,000 population NA (2021 est.) | -0.68 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2021 est.) |
| Sex ratio | at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female 0-14 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15-24 years: 1 male(s)/female 25-54 years: 0.97 male(s)/female 55-64 years: 0.97 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.88 male(s)/female total population: 1 male(s)/female (2020 est.) | at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female 0-14 years: 1.04 male(s)/female 15-24 years: 1.03 male(s)/female 25-54 years: 1 male(s)/female 55-64 years: 0.96 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.8 male(s)/female total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2020 est.) |
| Infant mortality rate | total: 16.27 deaths/1,000 live births male: 17.95 deaths/1,000 live births female: 14.48 deaths/1,000 live births (2021 est.) | total: 20.08 deaths/1,000 live births male: 21.84 deaths/1,000 live births female: 18.24 deaths/1,000 live births (2021 est.) |
| Life expectancy at birth | total population: 74.01 years male: 72.54 years female: 75.57 years (2021 est.) | total population: 72.9 years male: 71.01 years female: 74.89 years (2021 est.) |
| Total fertility rate | 2.85 children born/woman (2021 est.) | 3.32 children born/woman (2021 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate | <.1% (2020) | NA |
| Nationality | noun: Syrian(s) adjective: Syrian | noun: Iraqi(s) adjective: Iraqi |
| Ethnic groups | Arab ~50%, Alawite ~15%, Kurd ~10%, Levantine ~10%, other ~15% (includes Druze, Ismaili, Imami, Nusairi, Assyrian, Turkoman, Armenian) | Arab 75-80%, Kurdish 15-20%, other 5% (includes Turkmen, Yezidi, Shabak, Kaka'i, Bedouin, Romani, Assyrian, Circassian, Sabaean-Mandaean, Persian) note: data is a 1987 government estimate; no more recent reliable numbers are available |
| HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS | <1,000 (2020) | NA |
| Religions | Muslim 87% (official; includes Sunni 74% and Alawi, Ismaili, and Shia 13%), Christian 10% (includes Orthodox, Uniate, and Nestorian), Druze 3% note: the Christian population may be considerably smaller as a result of Christians fleeing the country during the ongoing civil war | Muslim (official) 95-98% (Shia 64-69%, Sunni 29-34%), Christian 1% (includes Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Assyrian Church of the East), other 1-4% (2015 est.) note: while there has been voluntary relocation of many Christian families to northern Iraq, the overall Christian population has decreased at least 50% and perhaps as high as 90% since the fall of the SADDAM Husayn regime in 2003, according to US Embassy estimates, with many fleeing to Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon |
| HIV/AIDS - deaths | <100 (2020) | NA |
| Languages | Arabic (official), Kurdish, Armenian, Aramaic, Circassian, French, English major-language sample(s): ???? ????? ??????? ?????? ???? ?? ???? ????????? ??? ????????? ???????? (Arabic) The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information. | Arabic (official), Kurdish (official), Turkmen (a Turkish dialect), Syriac (Neo-Aramaic), and Armenian are official in areas where native speakers of these languages constitute a majority of the population major-language sample(s): ???? ????? ??????? ???? ???? ????????? ???????? (Arabic) The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information. |
| Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 86.4% male: 91.7% female: 81% (2015) | definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 50.1% male: 56.2% female: 44% (2018) |
| Food insecurity | exceptional shortfall in aggregate food production/supplies: due to civil conflict and a stagnant economy - a nationwide food security assessment estimates that about 12.4 million people (60% of the overall population) are now food insecure in 2021, 5.4 million more than at the end of 2019, mostly due to constrained livelihood opportunities and a rapidly worsening economy; although some international food assistance is being provided, Syrian refugees are also pressuring host communities' resources in neighboring countries (2021) | severe localized food insecurity: due to civil conflict, low oil prices, and economic slowdown - the 2021 Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) for Iraq identified 4.1 million people in need, of which 2.4 million have acute humanitarian needs; while the number of people in need remained similar to the previous year, the severity of those needs increased, largely due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on top of an existing humanitarian crisis, leading to a 35% increase in the number of people in acute need; more than half of these are concentrated in the governorates of Nineveh and Anbar; the number of severely food insecure people is estimated at about 435,000, while 731,000 are vulnerable to food insecurity (2021) |
| Education expenditures | NA | NA |
| Urbanization | urban population: 56.1% of total population (2021) rate of urbanization: 5.38% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.) | urban population: 71.1% of total population (2021) rate of urbanization: 2.91% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.) |
| Drinking water source | improved: urban: 99% of population rural: 99.3% of population total: 99.4% of population unimproved: urban: 1% of population rural: 0.7% of population total: 0.6% of population (2017 est.) | improved: urban: 98.8% of population rural: 95% of population total: 97.9% of population unimproved: urban: 1.2% of population rural: 5% of population total: 2.1% of population (2017 est.) |
| Sanitation facility access | improved: urban: 99.6% of population rural: 98.6% of population total: 99.1% of population unimproved: urban: 0.4% of population rural: 1.4% of population total: 0.9% of population (2017 est.) | improved: urban: 96.7% of population rural: 89.7% of population total: 95.2% of population unimproved: urban: 3.3% of population rural: 10.3% of population total: 4.8% of population (2017 est.) |
| Major cities - population | 2.440 million DAMASCUS (capital), 2.004 million Aleppo, 1.362 million Hims (Homs), 940,000 Hamah (2021) | 7.323 million BAGHDAD (capital), 1.683 million Mosul, 1.382 million Basra, 1.031 million Kirkuk, 901,000 Najaf, 861,000 Erbil (2021) |
| Maternal mortality rate | 31 deaths/100,000 live births (2017 est.) | 79 deaths/100,000 live births (2017 est.) |
| Children under the age of 5 years underweight | 5.8% (2009/10) | 3.9% (2018) |
| Physicians density | 1.29 physicians/1,000 population (2016) | 0.71 physicians/1,000 population (2018) |
| Hospital bed density | 1.4 beds/1,000 population (2017) | 1.3 beds/1,000 population (2017) |
| Obesity - adult prevalence rate | 27.8% (2016) | 30.4% (2016) |
| Dependency ratios | total dependency ratio: 55.4 youth dependency ratio: 47.8 elderly dependency ratio: 7.6 potential support ratio: 13.2 (2020 est.) | total dependency ratio: 69.9 youth dependency ratio: 64.1 elderly dependency ratio: 5.9 potential support ratio: 17.1 (2020 est.) |
Source: CIA Factbook
