MoP not to conduct general census in 2011, says Minister

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The Minister of Planning Ali al-Shukri announced that “The general census of population in Iraq will not be conducted this year due to lack of financial allocations despite its importance on the international level.” Shukri said in an interview with IraqiNews.com that “The non-circulating of funds allocated to the general census from the MoP’s budget of 2011 made conducting the census impossible despite the fact that the parliament has recycled the allocations on the ministries and other institutions other than ministry of planning.” The Minister referred that “Iraq could not achieve development without thoughtful, correct statistics based on a scientific basis.” Shukri revealed that the percentage of population increase in Iraq is the highest in the world when it has exceeded 3% due to lack of mechanism of birth control in addition to lack of planned mechanism for the migration.”