Iraq

Iraq: sluggish, near-stagnant growth, 1980–2025

Decades of war, sanctions, and internal conflict have left Iraq's oil-dominated economy volatile and heavily state-directed, with reconstruction and diversification efforts repeatedly interrupted by instability. Between 1980 and 2025, Iraq's GDP per capita grew from $3,868 to $5,410 (current US$), a compound annual growth rate of 0.7% — sluggish, near-stagnant growth. Annual GDP growth averaged 6.0% with a year-to-year standard deviation of 18.8 points, reflecting considerable volatility and periodic crises. Structurally, agriculture's share of the economy moved from 4.7% to 3.4% of GDP (a classic decline as the economy industrialized/modernized), while services rose from 22.3% to 52.3% of GDP, underscoring a shift toward a services-driven economy. On human development, life expectancy rose from 60.9 to 72.4 years, while tertiary school enrollment moved from 10.2% to 15.6%, while the urban population share grew from 66.0% to 69.9%.

What this growth cost: Growth was not without cost: per-capita CO2 emissions rose from 3.84 to 5.18 tonnes CO2e per person; income inequality (Gini index) widened from 28.6 to 29.8; the poverty headcount ratio fell from 0.6% to 0.5%.