Poverty rate in Iraq drops to 16.5%: Ministry of Labor

Shafaq News/ On Thursday, Iraq announced a decrease in the country's poverty rate, while working on distributing a plan for social protection coverage.

Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Ahmed Al-Asadi, confirmed in a press conference that Iraq's poverty rate has dropped to 16.5%, with Diyala province at 18.8%, according to data from the social-economic census released by the Ministry of Planning.

“The ministry is working based on poverty line indicators to distribute the social protection eligibility map,” he added.

Official reports indicate that the poverty rate in Iraq was 25% of the total population in 2022, compared to 20% in 2019 and 2020.