2020 is the safest year … a study reveals the changes that Iraq has witnessed since 2003
2020 is the safest year … a study reveals the changes that Iraq has witnessed since 2003
08/30/2020 10:37
(Baghdad: Where’s News) A study by the “Brookings” Center for Political Research showed that 2020 is the safest year for Iraq since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s regime.
The study reviewed statistics regarding the number of civilian deaths, the Iraqi national income, the perception of safety between Sunnis and Shiites, the number of internally displaced persons, and the number of army forces, from 2003 to 2020.
Robert Golub and Michael O’Hanlon, who supervised the study, said that the data show that Iraq “It remains a troubled ground, but it has improved a lot according to most indicators, at least for now, compared to previous periods.”
The introduction to the research stated that the positive improvement is that “Iraq has gradually become a middle-income country, with a noticeable improvement in the quality of life recently, despite the continuing spread of corruption, the scarcity of job opportunities for youth, and sectarian pressures that threaten to boil over the situation again.”
The report indicated that 2020 is by far the safest year between that period, with regard to the rate of civilian deaths due to violence, as it reached 384 cases, while 2006 was the most severe year, with a number of deaths reaching 29,526.
The year 2015 also witnessed the largest proportion of internally displaced persons, with a number of 3 million 290 thousand people, while 2003 was the lowest.
The year 2015 was also marked by the largest percentage of Iraqi asylum applications, as the number reached 209,000, while 2004 was the lowest, with 9,000 and 850 asylum applications.
With regard to the rate of corruption, Iraq maintained an advanced rank in corruption during 2007 and 2008, where it ranked 178 globally, while it was the best in 2003, when Iraq ranked 113th globally, according to Transparency International.
As for the national income, the year 2018 witnessed the highest income in that period, with about 210 billion dollars in the Iraqi treasury, while 2003 witnessed the lowest amount during that period.
In 2004, the unemployment rate reached its lowest level, reaching 9.1 percent, while the largest percentage was in 2017 when the unemployment rate reached 13 percent.
With regard to the perception of safety, the Sunnis had the lowest percentage. In 2004 only 10 percent of Sunnis expressed their feeling of safety, while the percentage among Shiites was 77 percent.
However, the feeling of safety among Sunnis and Shiites equaled in 2018, as 88 percent of the surveyed group expressed their feeling of safety inside Iraq.
With regard to the numbers of the army forces, the army forces were at their maximum number in 2002 with 389 thousand workers, and this percentage decreased sharply until it reached 48 thousand in 2003.
alliraqnews.com
