Iraq - November 20, 2024 Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani announced on Monday that the country's population has exceeded 45 million. From Nov 20, Iraq launched a nationwide population and housing census for the first time in 27 years. In a press conference, al-Sudani said Iraq's population has reached 45,407,895, including foreigners and refugees residing in the country, citing the preliminary results of the country's recent general population and housing census. About 50.1 percent of the total population are males and about 49.8 percent are females, while 70.3 percent of the population lives in urban areas and 29.7 percent in rural areas. The results also showed that the working-age group between 15 and 64 constituted the highest percentage, reaching 60.2 percent of the total population, followed by the youth group under 15 years at 36.1 percent and the elderly group over 65 years at 3.7 percent, al-Sudani said. Iraq traditionally held a population census every 10 years, but the last was conducted in 1997 without the participation of the Kurdistan region. No census had been conducted since the 2003 U.S. invasion. SHOTLIST: Bagdad, Iraq - Nov 20, 2024 1. Various of building of Commission of Statistic and Geographic Information Systems under Iraqi Ministry of Planning, people walking out; 2. Poster reading "Ministry of Planing, Geographic Information System"; 3. Various of census in process; 4. Aerial shot of city view. [Restrictions: No access Chinese mainland]