Warning of a “time bomb” in Iraq and five-year plans to avert the “disaster”

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[size=52]Warning of a “time bomb” in Iraq and five-year plans to avert the “disaster”[/size]

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Population density in the absence of strategic plans for it is considered a “time bomb” in Iraq, according to experts, at a time when the authorities are preparing to draw up five-year plans to avoid a “disaster” in a country whose population may reach 50 million by 2030, according to expectations.[/size]
[size=45]The Iraqi government estimates the population in the country for the year 2022, at (42) million and (248) thousand and (883) people, with an annual increase rate of (2.5%), according to the estimates prepared by the Central Statistical Organization, based on the statistical equations and standards used in this field.[/size]
[size=45]Five-year development plans[/size]
[size=45]The capital, Baghdad, comes at the forefront of the most populous governorates, with more than 9 million people, and this percentage rises during the day - when visitors from the rest of the governorates are added for various purposes - to reach more than 10 million people, according to the spokesman for the Ministry of Planning, Abdul Zahra Al-Hindawi.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Hindawi added, “Nineveh governorate comes in second place, with more than 4 million people, then Basra, with more than 3 million people, and then the rest of the provinces come in succession, with numbers ranging from one million to two and a half million, and in the last place comes Muthanna, with 900 thousand people.” ".[/size]
[size=45]A spokesman for the Ministry of Planning indicates that “there are measures to absorb these population increases, as the Supreme Population Council, headed by the Prime Minister, approved the updated national document for population policies, and this document includes long-term visions to provide the requirements of life, benefit from the population increase, and turn it into engines.” developmental.”[/size]
[size=45]He explains, “These policies focus on improving the reality of the health, education and housing sectors, supporting vulnerable groups in society, achieving partnerships between the public and private sectors, focusing on developing studies and research dealing with population issues, and giving priority to these issues within development plans.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Hindawi asserts that “these policies included in the document will be translated into measures through the five-year development plans, and that the ministry is now preparing to prepare the five-year development plans for the next five years, and that this plan will take into account the reality of population increase and economic and development issues, in order to take measures.” and appropriate policies to address population issues.[/size]
[size=45]On February 15, the Iraqi government announced the approval of the “updated” national document for population policies, stressing the need to create conditions for the purpose of conducting the population census in the country.[/size]
[size=45]It is noteworthy that the Iraqi Ministry of Planning had suggested that the population census in the country be conducted at the end of the current year 2023.[/size]
[size=45]The last population census was conducted in Iraq in 1997, and over the past 15 years, the political forces did not agree to conduct the census, which is considered the basis for distributing wealth in the country, drawing up development plans, evaluating their results, and setting the correct plans for reconstruction.[/size]
[size=45]"Time bomb"[/size]
[size=45]The economist, Ahmed Abd Rabbo, describes the population density in the absence of planning, development and strategic plans for it as a “time bomb”, as it “puts great pressure on the services of residential areas in Baghdad and the prepared governorates when the population of Iraq did not exceed 17 million people.”[/size]
[size=45]And Abed Rabbo adds that “the population density has begun to swallow up most of the economic sectors, as there are graduates in the millions and the same number of unemployed, so the government must study the dangers of the current population crisis, move towards urgent birth control, support economic and human development, and set up special programs for (expelling zones) ) for the labor force and the population.[/size]
[size=45]environmental impact[/size]
[size=45]The director of the Environmental Justice and Climate Security Project in southern Iraq, Falah Al-Amiri, confirms that “the increase in the population growth rate is more dangerous to the environment than pollutants of all kinds and forms. Small geographical units, but rather became clear after natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes and dust storms, and they are originally caused by the impact of global or country population growth.[/size]
[size=45]And Al-Amiri adds, “According to the sources of the Ministry of Planning / Central Statistical Organization about population indicators of population changes in Iraq for the period from 2015-2030, where the percentage of population increase in 2022 compared to 2021 was estimated at (1,058,242), which is a very high rate.”[/size]
[size=45]And he explains, “The problem associated with the high population growth rate with environmental pollution lies in the fact that the service and health sector and the expansion of housing are almost non-existent or very slow, meaning that there is a geometric and multiplying numerical sequence of the population growth rate with the lack of growth of these sectors or the stagnation of their expansion and development, Here is the root of the problem.”[/size]
[size=45]And Al-Amiri continues, “Through the accumulation of annual population growth rates, the process of environmental pollution with all kinds of pollutants begins to appear due to the high rates of consumption of natural resources and their depletion, and this consumption is accompanied by many types of environmental pollutants, including fuel and waste, and excessive use of limited services.”[/size]
[size=45]He points out that “the volume of services and their institutions remain the same without change commensurate with the size of population growth, so these pollutants appear clearly as solid pollutants, and sometimes they do not appear except when specializing in air or soil pollutants, and this successive equation leads to the depletion of resources and their rapid extinction, such as Road and bridge services, the health sector, the education sector, and water.”[/size]
[size=45]And he shows, “On the other hand, we find that there is clear audio, visual and noise pollution, due to the overcrowding of the population in the same administrative units, which were not expanded or developed and remained the same, which indicates a catastrophe that may lead gradually towards economic and environmental collapse if those concerned are not treated. and decision-makers.”[/size]
[size=45]Other negatives[/size]
[size=45]For her part, the activist, Sakina Saeed, enumerated a number of negative aspects of the population density, the most prominent of which is that it “contributes to an increase in traffic congestion, and a lack of job opportunities, especially for earning, in addition to the high percentage of social problems in overcrowded areas.” “The concerned authorities should take serious steps to reduce the environmental and economic problems caused by overpopulation.”[/size]
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