Iraq

Though Christianity is decidedly a minority faith in Iraq, Mesopotamia has been home to a sizable Christian population for almost two millennia. The Acts of the Apostles lists Mesopotamians among those in the upper room at Pentecost. Tradition has it that in the first and second centuries A.D. the Apostle Thomas and his followers Addai and Mari brought the Christian faith to the lands that were the birthplace of Abraham. 

Today, more than 82% of Iraqi Catholics belong to the Chaldean Catholic Church, about 17% belong to the Syrian Catholic Church, and the remainder are primarily Armenian, Greek and Latin-rite Catholics. Before the second Gulf War, Christians made about 4-5% of the population, with the majority living in Baghdad, Mosul, Basrah and towns and villages of Kurdistan. Since 2003, a significantly high number of these Christians have been displaced, and about half have left the country. Much of what there is to write now about Iraq concerns the political and social unrest, though Pope Francis' celebrated pilgrimage there in 2021 may well be a significant step in changing that narrative. Read more…

    Religious Affiliation
    Chart source: Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project, 2010
    Total Population
    39,339,753 1
    Urban
    70.50% 1
    Rural
    29.50% 1
    Immigrants as % of Population
    1.0% 2
    Level of Public Corruption
    166 (1=lowest, 176=highest corruption) 4
    Fertility Rate
    4.52 births per adult woman 5
    Children Who Do Not Live to Age 5
    3.20% 5
    Life Expectancy at Birth
    70 years 5
    Adult Literacy Rate
    79.25% 5
    Internet Users
    11% 5
    Gross National Income per Capita
    US$6,500 5

    These statistics are derived from the Vatican's official publication, Statistical Yearbook of the Church 2020 (Vatican City: Librera Editrice Vaticana, 2022). The numbers may differ from data reported by other sources on this site.

    Baptized Catholics
    295,000
    Baptized Catholics as % of Total Population
    0.74
    Baptisms per Year (Under age 7)
    1,187
    Baptisms per Year (Over age 7)
    6
    First Communions per Year
    1,116
    Confirmations per Year
    1,201
    Students Enrolled in Catholic Primary Schools
    2,805
    Students Enrolled in Catholic Secondary Schools
    770
    Students Enrolled in Catholic Higher Education
    632
    Church Marriages per Year
    394
    Church Marriages in Which Both Spouses are Catholics
    371
    Priests
    170
    Women Religious (Nuns & Sisters)
    364
    Catholics per Priest
    1,734
    Parishes
    143
    Mission Stations (no resident priests)
    15
    Catholic Hospitals
    5
    Homes for Aged, Handicapped, Invalids
    6
    • 1 United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2018). World Urbanization Prospects: The 2018 Revision, Online Edition.
    • 2 United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Trends in International Migrant Stock: The 2015 revision.
    • 3 United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, Homicide Statistics 2015.
    • 4 Transparency International, Corruption Perceptions Index 2016.
    • 5 UNICEF, State of the World's Children, 2016.
    • 6 Statistical Yearbook of the Church 2020 (Vatican City: Librera Editrice Vaticana, 2022).
    • 7 World Economic Forum, The Global Gender Gap Report, 2016.