Kurdistan accuses Iraq of census manipulation over budget share

Shafaq News- Erbil/ Baghdad

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on Wednesday accused Iraq’s Planning Ministry of manipulating census results and demanded that the Region’s official 14.1% population share be used to determine its federal budget allocation.

In a statement, the KRG said the figure was confirmed in the results of Iraq’s November 2024 census, excluding disputed areas, and was conducted under an agreement endorsed by federal cabinet decisions that obligate Baghdad to adopt its outcomes.

Altering the population percentage would “undermine Kurdistan’s constitutional and financial entitlements,” as its budget share is tied to its proportion of the national population.

The census marked Iraq’s first nationwide count in nearly four decades, recording about 46 million people and covering all 18 provinces, according to the Planning Ministry. In November 2025, Kurdish Planning Minister Dara Rashid criticized Baghdad’s funding of the census, explaining that the federal government allocated about 500 billion IQD for the process while the Kurdistan Region received 12 billion IQD, well below what he said would correspond to its previously recognized 12% share.

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