Shafaq News / The Minister of Planning, Khaled Battal al-Najm, said today, Tuesday, that it is not feasible to conduct a census this year in Iraq due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to the financial circumstances.

This came during his meeting with the representative of the United Nations Population Fund in Iraq, Rita Columbia, and her accompanying delegation.

Al-Najm suggested that it would not be possible to conduct the census this year due to the health and financial conditions that Iraq is going through, adding that the ministry is currently preparing an important study about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the healthcare system in the country, while another qualitative study assessing youth issues is underway.

Columbia expressed the readiness of the United Nations Population Fund to support all these efforts and activities within the framework of the Fund's country program 2021-2024, especially with regard to supporting the implementation of the general population census and addressing the issue of the displaced.

The Ministries of Planning in both Baghdad and Kurdistan Region have agreed to set the current year as a date for conducting a population census that includes all regions of Iraq, while Article 140 of the Constitution drew up a roadmap for the federal government in Iraq to settle the differences over the disputed areas and determine their fate: annexing them to Kurdistan Region or remain under the management of the federal government.