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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

Country Posture

What Iraq’s economy is doing

Momentum

2025

Inputs 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 unemployment0.2
Change in the employment rate-0.1
Export volume growth—
OECD leading indicator—

Resilience

2025

Withheld: 3 of 5 core inputs reported for 2025.

Inputs
Interest as a share of revenue—
Budget balance—
Reserves, months of imports11.6
Current account1.9
Governance (WGI mean)-1.23
External debt (2024)6.2

Pressure

2025

Inputs only. Did not pass the pre-registered back-test: 1996–2009: AUC 0.657 below the single-input baseline (0.672).

Inputs
Inflation0.3
Change in inflation-2.3
Currency move against the dollar0.0%
Conflict deaths per million2.9
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 consumption

    20002025

  • Demographic stage

    Late expanding99% · 2025

    High stationaryEarly expandingLate expandingLow stationaryDeclining

    20002025

  • Debt cycle stage

    Early cycle90% · 2025

    Early cycleLeveragingLate cycleDeleveraging

    20002025

  • External balance stage

    Immature creditor76% · 2025

    Immature debtorMature debtorDebt repayerImmature creditorMature creditorCredit disinvestor

    20002025

  • Export structure stage

    Commodity-reliant100% · 2024

    Commodity-reliantDiversifyingManufacturing exporterComplex exporter

    20002025

  • Structural pressure

    Building15% · 2025

    LowBuildingHighAcute

    20002025

  • Middle-class stage

    Middle-class majority99% · 2025

    Pre-middle-classEmerging middle classMiddle-class majorityAffluent

    20062025

  • Electoral cycle

    Post-election73% · 2026-10

    Post-electionMid-termPre-election

    2021-112026-10

All Country Schemas · How they work

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.

Visit

0.0%

rank 185 of 199

short stays without a visa arranged in advance; 0 destinations in full.

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.

Live

0.0%

rank 51 of 199

a right to reside by nationality; 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.

What a Iraq passport opensShare of world GDP outside the holder's own country in the recorded destinations open to the passport: to visit, to work, to live. Monthly, rules in force on the first of the monthVisit: 0.0% in Oct 2026 · Oct 2026
Source: Palanor calculation from destination governments’ published visa and residence rules; GDP weights: World Bank (CC BY 4.0)Open the chart →

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).

What Iraq's economy runs onSpending by households, government and investment, and net exports, as shares of GDP each yearTotal 90.1% in 2024 · 2024
HouseholdsGovernmentInvestmentNet exports
Source: The World BankOpen the chart →

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).

Measure20252026 IMF f’cast2027 IMF f’cast2031 IMF f’cast
Real GDP growth%-0.4-16.019.03.5
Inflation, average consumer prices%0.33.53.03.8
GDP, current US dollarsUS$ bn264.2245.2285.8346.4
GDP at purchasing-power parityintl $ bn698.8606.6744.5946.3
GDP per person, US dollarsUS$5,8035,2585,9826,592
Current account balance% of GDP-3.8-10.82.2-2.5
Government gross debt% of GDP52.871.165.273.2
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.0.51.21.92.3
Iraq: growth, and the IMF's outlookReal GDP growth, percent a year, IMF history and projectionReal GDP growth: −0.4% in 2025 · 2025
Source: IMF World Economic Outlook Database, October 2026Open the chart →

Source: IMF World Economic Outlook Database (edition on the projection). Dashed: the IMF's published projection.

Iraq: government debt, and the IMF's outlookGeneral government gross debt, % of GDP, IMF history and projectionGross debt: 53% in 2025 · 2025
Source: IMF World Economic Outlook Database, October 2026Open the chart →

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

Iraq: growth and inflationReal GDP growth and consumer price inflation, percent a yearReal GDP growth: −2.2% in 2025 · 2025
Source: The World BankOpen the chart →
Iraq: Country StrengthPalanor composite of growth, prosperity, public finances, prices, currency, external balance, governance and human development, 0 to 10036.4 in 2025 · 2025
Source: Palanor calculationOpen the chart →

Conflict

Organized violence

Organized-violence deaths in IraqDeaths each year from state-based, non-state and one-sided violence, UCDP best estimate137 in 2025 · 2025
Source: Uppsala UniversityOpen the chart →

News

In the news

Week of 2026-08-31: 2 headlines, net tone 1.00Week of 2026-09-21: 1 headlines, net tone -1.00Week of 2026-09-28: 14 headlines, net tone -0.29Week of 2026-10-05: 8 headlines, net tone -0.12Week of 2026-10-12: 2 headlines, net tone 0.50Week of 2026-10-19: 2 headlines, net tone -0.50
Net tone of headlines naming the country, by week (2026-08-31 to 2026-10-19). Above the line: more positive than negative words.

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

Prices1 of 3

Jobs and people at work3 of 4

Government and debt8

Trade and capital flows1 of 2

Energy and resources8 of 12

Conflict and geopolitics6 of 12

Migration3 of 5

AI stance and technology1 of 2

Climate and the physical world6 of 8

Health and living standards8

More about this country2 of 18

Peers

Elsewhere in Asia

Alphabetical. Palanor does not rank countries.

AfghanistanArmeniaAzerbaijanBahrainBangladeshBhutanBruneiCambodiaChinaCyprusGeorgiaHong KongIndiaIndonesiaIranIsraelJapanJordanKazakhstanKuwaitKyrgyzstanLaosLebanonMacaoMalaysiaMaldivesMongoliaMyanmarNepalNorth KoreaOmanPakistanPalestinePhilippinesQatarSaudi ArabiaSingaporeSouth KoreaSri LankaSyriaTaiwanTajikistanThailandTimor-LesteTürkiyeTurkmenistanUnited Arab EmiratesUzbekistanVietnamYemen

Built 2026-10-22 from Palanor’s stored readings. Sources include the World Bank (WDI, WGI; CC BY 4.0), the OECD, UCDP (CC BY 4.0), national statistics offices and central banks, each credited on its signal, and the IMF World Economic Outlook Database (October 2026). Market prices are available inside the Terminal.

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