Shafaq News/ On Thursday, the Kurdish Ministry of Interior released official statistics on the population, including displaced persons and refugees within the Region.

According to the Kurdistan Region Statistics Office, the total population of the Kurdistan Region stands at 8,668,975, including 1,022,293 displaced persons and refugees. Data collected up to the end of March 2024 indicates that the number of displaced persons is 746,174, while the number of refugees is 276,119.

The statistics reveal that “Erbil hosts 42,400 displaced families, equivalent to 247,338 individuals; Al-Sulaymaniyah has 23,953 families or 139,355 individuals; and Duhok accommodates 67,929 displaced families or 359,481 individuals.”

As the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) seeks to enhance its share of the federal budget, Soran Omar, an MP from Al-Sulaymaniyah, emphasized the importance of these numbers, pointing out that “KRG had requested a copy of the census data to be kept in Erbil, a request which Baghdad denied.” This data, he argued, “could help the Region boost its population count and, consequently, its financial allocation.”

Omar speculated that there would not be a significant change due to the expected increase in citizen numbers in the central and southern provinces, voicing concerns about “the possibility of tampering with the results.” He affirmed that “the presence of over 700,000 displaced persons in the region could positively impact the region's share.”