Iraq
Everything Palanor holds about Iraq, in one place: 152 public signals, what its economy runs on, how often America’s largest companies name it, the news that names it, and Country Posture. Every figure is computed from stored readings and carries its source and date.
AsiaMiddle East & North AfricaMiddle East & Africa
The latest read
- GDP in current U.S. dollars: $254.4 billion (2025); 95th percentile since 1960; lowest since 2021; 1y −9.0%.
- Real GDP growth: -2.16% (2025); 12th percentile since 1961; lowest since 2020; 1y −0.61 pts.
- Consumer price inflation: 0.3% (2025); 12th percentile since 1960; lowest since 2019; 1y −2.31 pts.
- Unemployment: 15.5% (2025); 93rd percentile since 1991; highest since 2021; 1y +0.2 pts.
- Household consumption, share of GDP: 46.4% of GDP (2024); 79th percentile since 1990; highest since 2020; 1y +5.51 pts.
- Net exports, share of GDP: 2.39% of GDP (2024); 41st percentile since 1990; lowest since 2020; 1y −7.41 pts.
Country Posture
What Iraq’s economy is doing
Momentum
2025Inputs only. Did not pass the pre-registered back-test: 1996–2009: AUC 0.590 below 0.60; AUC 0.590 below the single-input baseline (0.624); 2010–2022: AUC 0.595 below 0.60; AUC 0.595 below the single-input baseline (0.641).
Inputs
| Real GDP growth | -2.2 |
| Growth against its three-year average | -4.5 |
| Change in unemployment | 0.2 |
| Change in the employment rate | -0.1 |
| Export volume growth | — |
| OECD leading indicator | — |
Resilience
2025Withheld: 3 of 5 core inputs reported for 2025.
Inputs
| Interest as a share of revenue | — |
| Budget balance | — |
| Reserves, months of imports | 11.6 |
| Current account | 1.9 |
| Governance (WGI mean) | -1.23 |
| External debt (2024) | 6.2 |
Pressure
2025Inputs only. Did not pass the pre-registered back-test: 1996–2009: AUC 0.657 below the single-input baseline (0.672).
Inputs
| Inflation | 0.3 |
| Change in inflation | -2.3 |
| Currency move against the dollar | 0.0% |
| Conflict deaths per million | 2.9 |
| Political stability | -1.87 |
| Private credit, three-year change (2024) | 2.8 |
| Bond spread over U.S. Treasuries | — |
Posture describes what an economy is doing; it is not a rating and never ranks countries. Each input is read against the country’s own history and against every other economy that year. An axis shows a score only after passing a back-test fixed before any result was computed. Method and back-test.
Country Schemas
Where Iraq is in its cycles
Where Iraq sits in eight long cycles, each read from published statistics against a method fixed before any reading was computed. A stage describes; it is not a rating, and no stage is better or worse than another.
- Development stage
Drive to maturity95% · 2025
Pre-take-offTake-offDrive to maturityHigh mass consumption20002025
- Demographic stage
Late expanding99% · 2025
High stationaryEarly expandingLate expandingLow stationaryDeclining20002025
- Debt cycle stage
Early cycle90% · 2025
Early cycleLeveragingLate cycleDeleveraging20002025
- External balance stage
Immature creditor76% · 2025
Immature debtorMature debtorDebt repayerImmature creditorMature creditorCredit disinvestor20002025
- Export structure stage
Commodity-reliant100% · 2024
Commodity-reliantDiversifyingManufacturing exporterComplex exporter20002025
- Structural pressure
Building15% · 2025
LowBuildingHighAcute20002025
- Middle-class stage
Middle-class majority99% · 2025
Pre-middle-classEmerging middle classMiddle-class majorityAffluent20062025
- Electoral cycle
Post-election73% · 2026-10
Post-electionMid-termPre-election2021-112026-10
Passport reach
Where a Iraq passport opens doors
The share of world GDP, outside Iraq itself, in the economies whose published rules let a holder of this passport in, as of October 2026. Palanor records the rules of destinations holding 88% of world GDP, from each government’s own list, and weights them by World Bank GDP for 2025. Rank is among 199 passports.
Work
0.0%rank 114 of 199
the right to work (free movement in full; treaty and working-holiday routes at half); 0 destinations in full.
Reach is shown here and not weighted into Country Strength: it rewards membership of a free-movement area or a treaty more than the strength of an economy. Entry is always at the border officer’s discretion, and conditions (length of stay, fees, age limits) vary. Method, sources and the full ranking: Passports and citizenship.
Palanor calculation from each destination government's published rules; GDP weights from the World Bank (CC BY 4.0), one year for the whole line, so it moves only when a list changes.
GDP by expenditure
What Iraq’s economy runs on
In 2024, household spending was 46.4% of GDP, government consumption 22.2%, investment 19.1% and net exports +2.4% (exports 39.8%, imports 37.4%). In 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 the parts miss 100 by more than three points (the statistical discrepancy in Iraq’s national accounts).
World Bank national accounts. The parts can miss 100 by a few points (the statistical discrepancy).
Same World Bank definition for every country, so the shares compare directly: What each economy runs on.
IMF World Economic Outlook
The IMF’s outlook for Iraq
The latest year before the October 2026 edition (often still an IMF estimate) and the IMF’s own projections. These are the IMF’s published forecasts, shown as published; Palanor does not project them further. Since the previous edition the IMF cut its growth forecast for this year by 9.2 percentage points (Palanor calculation).
| Measure | 2025 | 2026 IMF f’cast | 2027 IMF f’cast | 2031 IMF f’cast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Real GDP growth% | -0.4 | -16.0 | 19.0 | 3.5 |
| Inflation, average consumer prices% | 0.3 | 3.5 | 3.0 | 3.8 |
| GDP, current US dollarsUS$ bn | 264.2 | 245.2 | 285.8 | 346.4 |
| GDP at purchasing-power parityintl $ bn | 698.8 | 606.6 | 744.5 | 946.3 |
| GDP per person, US dollarsUS$ | 5,803 | 5,258 | 5,982 | 6,592 |
| Current account balance% of GDP | -3.8 | -10.8 | 2.2 | -2.5 |
| Government gross debt% of GDP | 52.8 | 71.1 | 65.2 | 73.2 |
| Government overall balance% of GDP | -6.2 | -15.1 | -4.2 | -7.6 |
| Government primary balance% of GDP | -5.7 | -13.9 | -2.3 | -5.4 |
| Government net interest paid% of GDP · Palanor calc. | 0.5 | 1.2 | 1.9 | 2.3 |
Source: IMF World Economic Outlook Database (edition on the projection). Dashed: the IMF's published projection.
Source: IMF World Economic Outlook Database (edition on the projection). Dashed: the IMF's published projection.
Source: IMF World Economic Outlook Database, October 2026. Provided by the IMF “as is” and free of charge from the IMF; the IMF does not endorse Palanor. Net interest paid is a Palanor calculation: the IMF's primary balance minus its overall balance.
Charts
The headline series
Conflict
Organized violence
News
In the news
- Iraq ships crude through Hormuz amid shifting routes
Iraq's use of new oil shipping routes coincides with recovering Gulf crude flows and potential erosion of Iran's leverage over the strategic strait.
Palanor Wire2026-10-04neutral
- Remilitarization: US military expands future warfare capabilities
US launches 120-day future warfare study while securing new hardware contracts and withdrawing from Iraq
Palanor Wire2026-10-01positive · +expands
- US completes military withdrawal from Iraq
US forces end two-decade presence as Iran and ISIS threats remain.
Palanor Wire2026-09-30neutral
- Iraq closes Sheeb border crossing with Iran to check security, sources say reut.rs/4BhLj1b
Reuters · Bluesky2026-10-21neutral
- Iraq's October Oil Exports Top 3.4 Million Bpd, Nearing Pre-War Levels
OilPrice.com2026-10-19negative · -war
- Iraq parliament approves remaining cabinet posts, PM deputies reut.rs/4zarPu5
Reuters · Bluesky2026-10-15positive · +approves
- Kurdish PKK militants quit some camps in north Iraq, Turkish sources say reut.rs/4s3fSUf
Reuters · Bluesky2026-10-12neutral
- American voters regard the Iran war as a mistake on par with the disastrous one in Iraq. Yet Congress is polarised and paralysed, unable to translate public dissent into pressure on Donald Trump to resolve the conflict bit.ly/4hErlGc
Photo: AP Photo/Kendall Warner
The Economist · Bluesky2026-10-10negative · -war -conflict
- Air Transat Licence for Canada-Iraq Flights
Marketaux (financial news API)2026-10-09neutral
- Dinar Devaluation "Fuels Showdown over Iraq's 2027 Budget"
Marketaux (financial news API)2026-10-09neutral
- Iraq launches the Updated Nationally Determined Contribution
Marketaux (financial news API)2026-10-09neutral
- Iraq Devalues Dinar 14.5% as Hormuz Disruption Drains Oil Revenue
OilPrice.com2026-10-07neutral
- Iraq devalues dinar to 1,520 per US dollar, state news agency says reut.rs/4j36LQR
Reuters · Bluesky2026-10-07neutral
- Iraq Builds 2027 Budget on $58 Oil—and a Very Large Deficit
OilPrice.com2026-10-06neutral
Headlines that name Iraq, matched by name with fixed rules (a wrong match is worse than a missing one). Tone is read from each headline’s own words; no model reads or summarizes an article, and other publishers’ stories link out.
Signals
Every series about Iraq
Grouped by theme, the most-read first. All 152 in the Library.
Growth and output10 of 36
- Population, Historical (Maddison): Iraqrecord high since 1; 1y +2.2%40,364,270 people2022
- GDP per Person, Historical (Maddison): Iraq94th percentile since 1; highest since 2019; 1y +5.8%13,0722022
- GDP, Historical (Maddison): Iraq98th percentile since 1; highest since 2019; 1y +8.1%527.62022
- Iraq · GDP · USD bn (current)95th percentile since 1960; lowest since 2021; 1y −9.0%$254.4bn2025
- Iraq · Real GDP Growth · % y/y12th percentile since 1961; lowest since 2020; 1y −0.61 pts-2.16%2025
- Iraq · Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Value Added · % of GDP11th percentile since 1968; highest since 2020; 1y +0.0191 pts3.41% of GDP2025
- Iraq · Industry (incl. Construction) Value Added · % of GDP16th percentile since 1968; lowest since 2020; 1y −6.18 pts45.4% of GDP2025
- Iraq · Manufacturing Value Added · % of GDP59th percentile since 1968; 1y −0.0905 pts4% of GDP2025
- Iraq · Services Value Added · % of GDP96th percentile since 1968; highest since 2020; 1y +6.51 pts52.3% of GDP2025
- Iraq: Share of World GDP at Market Exchange Rates63rd percentile since 1990; lowest since 2021; 1y −0.035 pts0.22% of world GDP2025
Prices1 of 3
- Iraq · Inflation · CPI % y/y12th percentile since 1960; lowest since 2019; 1y −2.31 pts0.3%2025
Jobs and people at work3 of 4
- Iraq · Female Labor Force Participation · %49th percentile since 1990; 1y −0.06 pts10.9%2025
- Iraq · Male Labor Force Participation · %32nd percentile since 1990; lowest since 2022; 1y −0.04 pts72.6%2025
- Iraq · Unemployment Rate · %93rd percentile since 1991; highest since 2021; 1y +0.2 pts15.5%2025
Government and debt8
- Iraq · Budget Balance · % GDP25th percentile since 2004; lowest since 2020; 1y −2.75-6.23 pct_gdp2025
- Iraq · Government Debt · % GDP48th percentile since 2004; highest since 2021; 1y +15.6%52.8 pct_gdp2025
- Iraq · Government Spending · % GDP43rd percentile since 2004; highest since 2015; 1y +1.0%42.6 pct_gdp2025
- Iraq · Net Interest · % GDP57th percentile since 2004; lowest since 2022; 1y −12.9%0.52 pct_gdp2025
- Iraq · Primary Balance · % GDP25th percentile since 2004; lowest since 2020; 1y −2.82-5.72 pct_gdp2025
- Iraq · Budget Balance · % GDP (central govt)1y −78.8%2 pct_gdp2019
- Iraq · Interest · % of Expense (central govt)1y −8.38 pts0.01%2019
- Iraq · Interest · % of Revenue (central govt)1y −5.25 pts0.01%2019
Trade and capital flows1 of 2
- Iraq · Current Account · % GDP26th percentile since 2005; lowest since 2020; 1y −35.1%1.94 pct_gdp2025
Energy and resources8 of 12
- Crude Oil Production · Iraq36th percentile since Jan 1973; highest since Feb 2026; 1y −55.6%1,9452026-06-01
- Iraq · Carbon Intensity of Electricity90th percentile since 2000; lowest since 2021; 1y −0.3%683.1 gCO2e/kWh2024
- Iraq · Electricity Generationrecord high since 2000; 1y +3.3%149.7 TWh2024
- Iraq · Gas Share of Electricity Generation78th percentile since 2000; 1y +0.77 pts53% of generation2024
- Iraq · Hydro Share of Electricity Generation6th percentile since 2000; 1y +0.39 pts1.34% of generation2024
- Iraq · Other Fossil Fuels Share of Electricity Generation38th percentile since 2000; 1y −1.18 pts45.4% of generation2024
- Iraq · Solar Share of Electricity Generation90th percentile since 2000; highest since 2021; 1y +0.03 pts0.29% of generation2024
- Iraq · Wind and Solar Share of Electricity Generation90th percentile since 2000; highest since 2021; 1y +0.03 pts0.29% of generation2024
Conflict and geopolitics6 of 12
- Iraq · Organized-Violence Deaths (UCDP, annual)12th percentile since 1989; lowest since 2001; 1y −68.9%137 deaths2025
- Iraq · State-Based Conflict Deaths (UCDP, annual)20th percentile since 1989; lowest since 2002; 1y −69.4%132 deaths2025
- Iraq · Governance · WGI six-dimension meanrecord high since 1996; 1y +0.062-1.23 index2025
- Iraq · Political Stability · WGI83rd percentile since 1996; highest since 2002; 1y +0.161-1.87 index2025
- Iraq · Regulatory Quality · WGI87th percentile since 1996; highest since 2016; 1y +0.015-1.01 index2025
- Iraq · Rule of Law · WGIrecord high since 1996; 1y +0.062-1.39 index2025
Migration3 of 5
- International Migrant Stock: Iraq (UN)record high since 1990370,980 people2024
- International Migrants as a Share of Population: Iraq (UN)44th percentile since 19900.81% of population2024
- Change in Migrant Share of Population Since 2000: Iraq (UN)-0.062024
AI stance and technology1 of 2
- AI User Share: Iraq (Microsoft AI Diffusion)1y +2.70 pts13% of people aged 15-642026-06-30
Climate and the physical world6 of 8
- Iraq CO₂ Emissions (Global Carbon Budget)record high since 1927; 1y +2.5%233.6 Mt CO₂2024
- Iraq Cumulative CO₂ Emissions (Global Carbon Budget)record high since 1927; 1y +4.6%5.35 Gt CO₂2024
- Iraq · Arable Land · % of land54th percentile since 1961; 1y unchanged11.3% of land area2024
- Iraq · Renewable Freshwater · m³ per personrecord low since 1961; 1y −2.2%7992022
- Iraq · Forest Area · % of landrecord low since 1990; 1y −0.02 pts1.61%2024
- Iraq · PM2.5 Exposure · µg/m³15th percentile since 1990; 1y +0.9%37.8 µg/m³2020
Health and living standards8
- Iraq · Life Expectancy at Birth · yearsrecord high since 1960; 1y +0.1%72.4 years2024
- Iraq · Human Development Index · UNDPrecord high since 1990; 1y unchanged0.7 index2023
- Iraq · Access to Electricity · % of populationrecord high since 2000; 1y unchanged100%2024
- Iraq · Basic Drinking Water Access · % of populationrecord high since 2000; 1y +0.01 pts98.4%2024
- Iraq · Safely Managed Drinking Water · % of populationrecord high since 2000; 1y +0.05 pts59.8%2024
- Iraq · Undernourishment · % of population15th percentile since 2001; 1y +0.1 pts13.4%2024
- Iraq · Extreme Poverty ($3.00 a day) · % of population0.5%2023
- Iraq · Poverty at National Lines · % of population17.5%2023
More about this country2 of 18
- Iraq · IMF Credit Outstanding · USD bn (IMF)record low since May 1967; 1y unchanged$0bn2026-09-01
- Iraq · IMF Credit Outstanding, % of GDPrecord low since 2004; 1y unchanged0% of GDP2025
Peers
Elsewhere in Asia
Alphabetical. Palanor does not rank countries.
AfghanistanArmeniaAzerbaijanBahrainBangladeshBhutanBruneiCambodiaChinaCyprusGeorgiaHong KongIndiaIndonesiaIranIsraelJapanJordanKazakhstanKuwaitKyrgyzstanLaosLebanonMacaoMalaysiaMaldivesMongoliaMyanmarNepalNorth KoreaOmanPakistanPalestinePhilippinesQatarSaudi ArabiaSingaporeSouth KoreaSri LankaSyriaTaiwanTajikistanThailandTimor-LesteTürkiyeTurkmenistanUnited Arab EmiratesUzbekistanVietnamYemen