Net Migration: Iraq (World Bank)

## What this measures

Net migration into Iraq: the number of people who moved there in the year minus the number who left, counting citizens and non-citizens alike. Annual, 1960–2023, in people.

## Why it matters

Migration adds to or drains a country's workforce, consumers and tax base, and in many ageing countries it is now the main source of population growth. A large net outflow can mark conflict, crisis or a lack of jobs at home; a large inflow, labour demand or people fleeing elsewhere.

## How to read it

Above zero, more people arrived than left; below zero, more left than arrived. Compare countries of different size with the rate per 1,000 people (migration.wb.net_per_1000.irq).

## What it does not say

International migration is the hardest part of population change to measure. The UN estimates it from censuses, registers, surveys and border and refugee statistics, and where those are missing as the difference between population growth and natural increase (births minus deaths). Older years are often averages over five-year periods, so they move in steps. The series ends in 2023, the last year the UN's 2024 revision of World Population Prospects estimates: the World Bank also publishes the UN's projections for later years, and Palanor leaves them out until a new revision turns them into estimates. Each revision can rewrite the whole history. It counts people, not their reasons: refugees, workers, students and returning citizens all count, and so do departures. It is not the same as a country's own official estimate.

## Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators: SM.POP.NETM "Net migration" (data.worldbank.org/indicator/SM.POP.NETM), from the United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects. WDI metadata: License_Type "CC BY-4.0". Credit: World Bank, World Development Indicators; UN Population Division. Refreshed monthly by /api/cron/worldbank-sync.