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ComorosLiving in Iraq in figures: income, prices and jobs
12 World Bank indicators for Iraq, read in plain English, with how each has moved over about ten years. Useful context if you are weighing a job or a move there.
Average income per person in Iraq is about $451 a month (2025). Prices are about 62% lower than in the United States, so that income buys about as much as $1,189 a month would there. Unemployment is 15.5%, and 32% among young people. Over the last decade, real income per person (after inflation) fell 9.8% between 2015 and 2025, unemployment rose 4.6 points and life expectancy rose by 2.7 years.
12 figures that describe life in Iraq
The economy produces about $5,410 a year per resident, roughly $451 a month per person. This is an average, not what each person earns.
Adjusted for local prices, that buys about as much as $14,267 a year would at US prices.
Prices overall are about 62% lower than in the United States: what costs $100 there costs the equivalent of about $38 here.
Of every 100 people looking for work, about 15.5 cannot find a job.
Among young people (15 to 24) looking for work, about 32 in 100 have no job.
Prices rose 0.3% in the latest year available.
A Gini index of 29.8 out of 100: income is spread fairly evenly.
About 0.5 in every 100 people live on less than $3 a day (the World Bank's extreme poverty line).
A child born today lives 72.4 years on average.
About 10.9 in every 100 women over 15 work or are looking for work.
About 8.1 in every 10 people use the internet.
More people leave than arrive (a net 1,064 people a year).
The arrow compares the latest value with its value about 10 years earlier: green is better, red is worse. Ranks and averages are among the 23 Arab countries on this site.
Is living standard rising? Real income per person since 1990
Income per person with inflation removed (constant 2015 US dollars), so it measures real improvement rather than rising prices.
Unemployment over the years
Life expectancy
And your own salary?
The figures above are national averages. On a gross salary worth $2,000 a month, an expat in Iraq keeps about $1,644 after income tax and social insurance.
Frequently asked questions
What is life like in Iraq, in figures?
Average income per person in Iraq is about $451 a month (2025). Prices are about 62% lower than in the United States, so that income buys about as much as $1,189 a month would there. Unemployment is 15.5%, and 32% among young people. Over the last decade, real income per person (after inflation) fell 9.8% between 2015 and 2025, unemployment rose 4.6 points and life expectancy rose by 2.7 years.
Is Iraq expensive to live in?
Prices overall are about 62% lower than in the United States: what costs $100 there costs the equivalent of about $38 here. Adjusted for local prices, that buys about as much as $14,267 a year would at US prices. Figures for 2025 from the World Bank.
What is the average income per person in Iraq?
The economy produces about $5,410 a year per resident, roughly $451 a month per person. This is an average, not what each person earns. (2025). This is the size of the economy divided by the population, not the average salary. To work out a specific salary after tax, use the salary calculator.
Is the economy in Iraq improving or declining?
Mixed picture: Real income per person (after inflation) fell 9.8% between 2015 and 2025, unemployment rose 4.6 points and life expectancy rose by 2.7 years.
What is the unemployment rate in Iraq?
Of every 100 people looking for work, about 15.5 cannot find a job. Among young people (15 to 24) looking for work, about 32 in 100 have no job. (International Labour Organization estimates, 2025).
Sources
- GDP per capita (current US$)
- GDP per capita, PPP (current international $)
- Price level index (GDP), United States = 100
- Unemployment, total (% of total labor force) (modeled ILO estimate)
- Unemployment, youth total (% of total labor force ages 15-24) (modeled ILO estimate)
- Inflation, consumer prices (annual %)
- Gini index
- Poverty headcount ratio at $3.00 a day (2021 PPP) (% of population)
- Life expectancy at birth, total (years)
- Labor force participation rate, female (% of female population ages 15+) (modeled ILO estimate)
- Individuals using the Internet (% of population)
- Net migration
- GDP per capita (constant 2015 US$)
- GDP growth (annual %)
- Population, total
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators, data last updated 13 July 2026.
We show the figures as the World Bank publishes them, without adjustment. National averages do not reflect differences between cities and people.
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