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Syria vs. Iraq

Demographics

SyriaIraq
Population20,384,316 (July 2021 est.)

note: approximately 22,900 Israeli settlers live in the Golan Heights (2018)
39,650,145 (July 2021 est.)
Age structure0-14 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 agetotal: 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 rate5.32% NA (2021 est.)2.06% (2021 est.)
Birth rate23.25 births/1,000 population (2021 est.)25.21 births/1,000 population (2021 est.)
Death rate4.36 deaths/1,000 population (2021 est.)3.92 deaths/1,000 population (2021 est.)
Net migration rate34.34 migrant(s)/1,000 population NA (2021 est.)-0.68 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2021 est.)
Sex ratioat 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 ratetotal: 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 birthtotal 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 rate2.85 children born/woman (2021 est.)3.32 children born/woman (2021 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate<.1% (2020)NA
Nationalitynoun: Syrian(s)

adjective: Syrian
noun: Iraqi(s)

adjective: Iraqi
Ethnic groupsArab ~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
ReligionsMuslim 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
LanguagesArabic (official), Kurdish, Armenian, Aramaic, Circassian, French, English

major-language sample(s):
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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):
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The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information.
Literacydefinition: 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 insecurityexceptional 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 expendituresNANA
Urbanizationurban 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 sourceimproved: 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 accessimproved: 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 - population2.440 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 rate31 deaths/100,000 live births (2017 est.)79 deaths/100,000 live births (2017 est.)
Children under the age of 5 years underweight5.8% (2009/10)3.9% (2018)
Physicians density1.29 physicians/1,000 population (2016)0.71 physicians/1,000 population (2018)
Hospital bed density1.4 beds/1,000 population (2017)1.3 beds/1,000 population (2017)
Obesity - adult prevalence rate27.8% (2016)30.4% (2016)
Dependency ratiostotal 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