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Welcome To Iraq
Country number
61
Selected MR Agencies
  • Elephants Can't Jump

    Ensuring brand initiatives work in practice as well as in theory. To have marketplace impact, we believe every research assignment should consist of three elements consumer exploration or validation, within a competitive context, generating commercial outputs.
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  • Firefish Ltd

    29 full time staff, operating in all corners of the globe, on all manner of projects. No methodology is squashed to fit. We approach each brief with fresh eyes and minds, to make sure you get the most out of your research, helping your brand move forward.
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  • Grass Roots

    Grass Roots is one of Europe's largest performance improvement companies. Established in 1980, Grass Roots UK is the founding company of a group with offices and partners operating in 15 countries around the world.
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  • DIGITAL-MR

    In addition to Social Media Research (Web Listening) DigitalMRs solutions also include community panels, access panels, Web usability and a distinct focus on qualitativeresearch online.
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An Introduction to Iraq

Iraq has been home to continuous successive civilisations since the 6th millennium BC. Known in the ancient world as Mesopotamia (the land between the rivers - the Tigris and the Euphrates), Iraq was home to the earliest known civilization on Earth: the Sumerian. Iraq also lays claim to being the birthplace of both writing, and the wheel. See full country profile.

Latest Research News from Middle East

Mar 21
Southeast Asia-based qual and quant marketing intelligence and panels provider Divergent Insights has appointed Swagata Moitra Ghosh to its Leadership Team as VP Global Research and Insights. Mar 21 2024
Feb 19
Yahoo has launched a rapid insights solution called PurpleLab, based on Qualtrics technology - initially in Australia and Southeast Asia. Feb 19 2024


2 current Middle Eastern jobs:

Director, Dubai, Remuneration package will be structured to reward skills, experience and expertise - (posted Apr 8 2024)
Survey Research Manager, Remote Working - Worldwide, $ Competitive salary - (posted Feb 27 2024)


Fast Facts
Map of Iraq
CAPITAL: Baghdad
GOVERNMENT: Parliamentary Democracy
AREA: 438,317 sq km
POPULATION: 29,671,605 (July 2010 est.)
MAJOR LANGUAGE: Arabic, Kurdish
Iraqi woman
Iraqi woman


Is This Burning An Eternal Flame? The Eternal Fire of Baba Gurgur (father of fire in Kurdish) is a name used to describe the flames of the Baba Gurgur oil field. It is estimated that the burning flames have been around for more than 4,000 years. The Eternal Fire was first described by Herodotus and also mentioned by Plutarch. Many believe the Eternal Fire to be the 'Fiery furnace' in the Book of Daniel, into which King Nebuchadnezzar (c.630-562 BC), King of Babylon throws 3 Jews for refusing to worship his golden idol.

The flames are the result of an emission of natural gas through cracks in the Baba Gurgur area's rocks. In earlier times shepherds used to warm their flocks on the flames in winter and Kurdish women visit Baba Gurgur, in order to conceive a male child. This latter practice probably goes back to the time of fire worshiping.

A little More Knowledge?
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Iraq in Profile

Iraq has been home to continuous successive civilisations since the 6th millennium BC. Known in the ancient world as Mesopotamia (the land between the rivers - the Tigris and the Euphrates), Iraq was home to the earliest known civilization on Earth: the Sumerian. Iraq also lays claim to being the birthplace of both writing, and the wheel.

Iraq gained independence from the British Empire in 1932, remained a Kingdom until 1958 and then became a Republic, of which Saddam Hussein became President in 1979. The ensuing three decades have put Iraq in the international spotlight: human rights abuses, chemical attacks on Kurds, the Iran-Iraq war, the invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and subsequent First Gulf War, and the 2003 invasion and occupation by a US-led coalition. Troops are now withdrawing and the country is slowly starting to rebuild.Iraq has proven oil reserves of a staggering 143.1 billion barrels, the world's 2nd largest. At its current trickling production rate of around 2.5 million barrels per day, reserves would last some 157 years. No surprise then that on June 30 and December 11, 2009, the Iraqi ministry of oil awarded service contracts to international companies for the development of a number of oil fields.

Some Business and General Info

GDP: $109.9 billion ($3,800 per capita) - 2009 est.

Religions Muslim 97% (Shia 60%-65%, Sunni 32%-37%), Christian or other 3%

Currency: Iraqi Dinar (IQD) - 1 GBP = 1,848 IQD

Telephone Code: +964

Overview of the Research Industry

MR Association(s):

Association: As far as we can tell, there is currently no MR Association in Iraq. However, there are several agencies working in the country.

The 'Other Middle East' region (Yemen, Iran and Iraq) had a turnover of $USD 13m in 2008 - up from $10m in 2007 - a net growth of 10.1%.
Source: ESOMAR

Overview of Trade and Industry

The US, India, Italy, South Korea, Taiwan, China, Netherlands, and Japan are the main export partners with Iraq, with exports totalling $40.86 billion in 2009 and crude oil the main export commodity. The main import partners are Turkey, Syria, the US, China, Jordan, Italy and Germany, with imports of food, medicine and manufactures totalling $55.4 billion in 2009.

Nearly 30 years of continuous war has had a detrimental impact on Iraqi economic growth. Oil production remains Iraq's chief economic activity. The lack of development in other sectors has resulted in 18%-30% unemployed and a depressed per capita GDP of $4,000. By 2008 estimates suggested 2.4 million people were internally displaced (a further 2 million refugees outside Iraq), 4m Iraqis were considered food-insecure (a quarter of children were chronically malnourished) and only a third of Iraqi children had access to safe drinking water. (Source: the CIA World Factbook.)

My view
from...
Iraq
Researchers Talk!
Have your say!
If you are a researcher based in Iraq, in whatever capacity, then we would love to hear from you!

Email me:
laurence@mrweb.com

Views from...

If you are a researcher in Iraq, in whatever capacity, then we would love to hear from you!