Some key facts about Iraq:
Population: 24 million
Area: Twice the size of Idaho
Land suitable for crops: 12 percent
Age structure: 41 percent of population is 14 and younger (in the U.S., it's 21 percent)
Infant mortality rate: 56 deaths per 1,000 live births (in the U.S., it's 6.7)
Life expectancy: 67.4 years (in the U.S., it's 77.4)
Ethnicity: Arabic 75-80 percent; Kurdish 15-20 percent; Turkoman and others 5 percent
Adult literacy: 71 percent for men, 45 percent for women (in the U.S., it's 97 percent for both sexes)
Economy: Oil accounts for 95-99 percent of foreign earnings
Gross domestic product: $59 billion (in the U.S., it's $10 trillion)
Per capita GDP: $2,500 (in the U.S., it's $36,300)
External debt: $62.2 billion (2001)
Telephones: 675,000 (1997)
Televisions: 1.75 million (1997)
Internet users: 12,500 (2001)
_Sources: CIA, BBC.
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(c) 2003, Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
Iraq