Where are Iraq’s Poor?

Measuring poverty and tracking it over
time is an important prerequisite to national economic
planning. Absence of official data on household expenditure
or poverty line hampered the ability of Iraqi policymakers
to understand the extent of the problem, analyze their
causes, and devise appropriate policies. Iraq household
socioeconomic survey (IHSES) 2006-07 was the first survey of
its kind since 1988 to cover all 18 governorates. The survey
collected rich information on income, expenditure,
employment, housing, education, health, and other
socioeconomic indicators. Building on the experience of the
first IHSES survey and using international best practice on
sampling and questionnaire design and survey implementation,
the second round of IHSES was fielded in 201-/13. To fill
the data gap, a larger survey was designed to collect
information on correlates of household welfare like
demographic characteristics, education, occupation, housing,
and assets and estimate small-area poverty rates using
projection methods. This report presents results from the
exercise, the first of its kind for Iraq. Poverty mapping
not only provides a visual representation of poverty at
subnational levels, it also reveals pockets of poverty and
islands of prosperity where they exist. This knowledge is
useful to inform decisions on policy design and targeting of
development projects and programs.