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The aim of this paper is to study fertility in Iraq: to elucidate any trends and to compare fertility in the three Iraqi regions of north, middle and south. The paper describes and analyzes the population data for the period’s 1973/75 and 1980. The main fertility measures used are crude birth rate, general fertility rate, total fertility rate, gross reproduction rate, age-specific fertility rate and child-woman ratio. The results showed that fertility in Iraq is still high com-pared with the prevailing rates in both developed and developing countries.

The fertility rate remained high between the two periods, and it is expected that this will continue. The research also indicated that there are differences in fertility levels among the three regions in Iraq, and also between urban and rural areas. There appeared to be a negative correlation between fertility and both education and participation in the labor force.