The Official Website of the
Kurdistan board of investment

Middle East, bordering the Turkey, Iran and Syria

Area

Geographic Coordinates

Google Earth Coordinates

N: 37.7° N
E: 46.6° E

Area

Google Earth Coordinates

Total: 40,000 sq km
Land: 36,000 sq km
Water: 4,000 sq km

Area - Comparative  

Invest in Kurdistan

Twice the size of the state of Vermont

Land Boundaries

Google Earth Coordinates

Total: 722Km 
Bordering countries: Iran 220 km, Syria 150 km, Turkey 352 km

Current Weather

Mild to cool winters with dry, hot, cloudless summers; northern mountainous regions along Iranian and Turkish borders experience cold winters with occasionally heavy snows that melt in early spring, very hot in the summer.

Mountainous, in most of Kurdistan, most areas are very dry in the summer while cooling down, in the winter and spring.

Natural Resources

Ministry of natural resources

Petroleum, natural gas, phosphates, sulphur

Land Use
Invest in Kurdistan

Arable land: 13.12%
Permanent crops: 0.61%
Other: 86.27% 2005

Natural Hazards

Dust storms; sandstorms; floods

Environment: International Agreements

Iraqi Govt Agreements

Party to: Biodiversity, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection
Signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification

5.2 million
July 20O9 KRG statistics office est.

Age Structure

Invest in the Future

0-14 years: 36% 
15-64 years: 60%
65 years and over: 4%

Total: 20.65 years
Male: 20.5 years
Female: 20.8 years

Population Growth Rate

KRG stats office

2.548% 
2010 est.

Life Expectancy at Birth

Invest in Kurdistan

Total population: 70.25 years
Male: 68.88 years
Female: 71.69 years 2010 est.

Noun: Iraqi(s)
Adjective: Iraqi

Kurds, Assyrians, Turkmen, Arabs, Armenians, Yezidis, Shabaks and Mandeans.

Muslim, Christian or Yezidi

Arabic, Kurdish (official in Kurdish regions), Turkoman (a Turkish dialect), Assyrian (Neo-Aramaic), Armenian

Total population: 74.1%
Male: 84.1%
Female: 64.2% 
2000 est.

School Life Expectancy

University of Salahadin

Total: 10 years
Male: 12 years
Female: 9 years (2005)
Government: Kurdistan Regional Government

Conventional long form: Republic of Iraq
Conventional short form: Iraq
Local long form: Jumhuriyat al-Iraq
Local short form: Al Iraq
Regional Name: Kurdistan

Parliamentary democracy
Presidential democracy

Name: Erbil
Time difference: GMT+3

Administrative Divisions

3 governorates: Arbil, As Sulaymaniah and Duhok

Ratified on 15 October 2005 (subject to review by the Constitutional Review Committee and a possible public referendum)

Legal System

Based on European civil and Islamic law under the framework outlined in the Iraqi Constitution; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

18 years of age; universal

Executive Branch

Chief of state: President Massoud Barzani (since June 2005)
Head of government: Prime Minister Dr Barham Ahmed Salih(since July 2009); Deputy Prime Minister Azad Barwari (since March July 2009)
Cabinet: 19 ministers appointed by the Prime Minister Dr Barham Ahmed Salih and Deputy Prime Minister Azad Barwari

Legislative Branch

Head of Parliament: Dr Kemal Karkuki
Deputy Head of Parliament: Dr Arselan Bayiz
Unicameral Council of Representatives (111 seats; consisting of 100 members elected by a closed-list, proportional representation system and 11 reserved for minorities; members serve four-year terms)
Elections: last held on July 2009; next election to be held in 2013
election results: Council of Representatives - percent of vote by party - Kurdistani List 59%, Movement for Change 25%, Services and Reform List 13%, Islamic movement 2% Social Justice and Freedom List 1%, number of seats by party -Kurdistani List 59, Movement for Change 25, Services and Reform List 13, Islamic movement 2 Social Justice and Freedom List 1 Other Allocative seats: 5 Turkmen, 5 Christians, 1 Armenian

Political Parties & Leaders

Kurdistan Democratic Party or KDP [Kurdistan Regional Government President Massoud BARZANI]; Movement for Change [Nawshirwan MUSTAFA]; Socialist Party [Muhammed Haji Mahmoud]; Patriotic Union of Kurdistan or PUK [Jalal TALABANI President of Iraq]; Islamic Union of Kurdistan [Salaheddine Bahaaeddin]; Islamic Group of Kurdistan [Ali Bapir]; 
Note: numerous smaller local, tribal, and minority parties

International Organization Participation

ABEDA, AFESD (suspended), AMF, CAEU, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, LAS, MIGA, NAM, OAPEC, OIC, OPCW, OPEC, PCA, UN, UNDP, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO (observer)

Three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and green; the Sun in yellow is centered in the white band.