Iraq

Economy & income

Currency

• Iraqi Dinar (IQD, ع.د / ID)
• official ~1,300 per USD (fixed since Feb 2023, reaffirmed for the 2026 budget)
• parallel/market rate weaker at ~1,400–1,500 per USD (mid-2026) — a persistent official-vs-street gap driven by US sanctions-related dollar-flow controls

GDP per capita

• ~$5,800 nominal (2025, IMF WEO; projected to dip to ~$5,677 in 2026)
• ~$14,464 PPP (2024, World Bank)
• Total GDP ~$258–265bn nominal (2025) — the 5th-largest Arab economy, but heavily oil-dependent (crude ~90%+ of state revenue), so per-capita figures mask deep inequality

Average salary

• ~$540–570/mo range: Numbeo net ~$549
• wage.is gross avg ~$536
• a 2025 Shafaq/govt figure cited ~$567/mo
• Wide gaps — public-sector, oil-governorate (Basra) & Kurdistan wages run far above informal and southern-rural earnings

Median salary

• n/a — no official median wage is published
• a very large informal sector plus a dominant public payroll (millions of state employees) make any reliable national median unavailable

Minimum wage

• IQD 350,000/mo (~$235–270) federal minimum, unchanged since 2018 (Labour Law 37/2015, Art. 63)
• the Kurdistan Region set IQD 450,000/mo (~$300–345) for unskilled workers in Aug 2025. Enforcement is weak across the large informal economy

Cost of living

• Low–Medium — Numbeo family-of-four ~$1,837/mo excl. rent (2026), roughly 3x the average wage
• single-person moderate
• Numbeo Iraq depth is moderate (updated May 2026)
• Baghdad and Erbil are noticeably pricier than the south

Digital landscape

Population

46.5 million (Jan 2025, DataReportal; +2.1% YoY) — a very young population (median age 20.8) that is ~72% urban and growing fast

Internet users

81.7% (~38.0 million users, Jan 2025); ~8.5M still offline

Social media users

• 73.8% (~34.3 million identities, Jan 2025; = 90.3% of internet users; +7.4% YoY)
• Gender skew: 62.0% male / 38.0% female

Mobile connections

• 48.1 million cellular connections = 103% of pop (Jan 2025)
• 82.9% broadband-capable

Devices

mobile ~60.1% / desktop ~38.3% / tablet ~1.6% (StatCounter, Jun 2026) — an unusually high desktop share for the region (cybercafé & shared-PC use)

Ad spend

• Digital ad spend ~$150m+ (2024, Statista), projected ~$174m by 2028
• social-media ads ~$39m, search ~$15m, influencer ~$5.5m (2024)
• DataReportal publishes no headline national ad-spend figure for Iraq

Top social platforms

TikTok ~34.3M / 128% of adults 18+ — the #1 platform, one of the world's highest penetration rates

YouTube ~22.3M / 47.9% of pop

Facebook ~20.1M / 43.2%

Instagram ~19.0M / 40.7%

Snapchat ~18.5M / 39.7% — very popular with youth

Messenger ~15.0M / 32.1%

X/Twitter ~2.65M

Messengers

• WhatsApp (near-universal default for chat, calls & business)
• Telegram (very widely used — news channels, groups, file-sharing)
• Facebook Messenger (~15.0M reach)
• Viber (still used, esp. older users & diaspora)
• Instagram DM & Snapchat (heavy youth messaging)

Payments & behaviour

Payment methods

• Cash / cash-on-delivery (COD) — overwhelmingly dominant; the default for e-commerce and delivery
• Qi Card (QiCard) — the leading local card; millions of public-sector salaries & pensions are paid onto it (biometric)
• Mobile wallets — ZainCash & AsiaHawala (mobile-money; strong for remittances, top-ups & online pay)
• Bank cards (Mastercard/Visa via local issuers such as FIB) — growing but still limited online
• Bank transfer — formal/urban and business use only

E-wallets

• ZainCash (Zain Iraq — the most-used wallet; ~1.2M+ app downloads; Forbes Middle East Fintech 50)
• AsiaHawala (Asiacell — major mobile wallet, fast transfers)
• Qi Card / SuperQi (super-app around the dominant salary card)
• FastPay
• NassWallet
• FIB (First Iraqi Bank) app

Cash on delivery

• Very high — COD is the default and the trust anchor for online orders
• marketplaces like Miswag make COD the primary payment option, with wallet/card prepayment adoption rising only slowly

E-commerce

• Low but growing fast — Miswag is the largest local marketplace (50,000+ products, 2,500+ brands)
• huge informal social commerce runs via Instagram/Facebook/TikTok
• Cash-first and mobile-led

Notes

• Design every flow around COD + mobile wallets (ZainCash/AsiaHawala) + Qi Card, not international cards — card penetration is low and much of the population is underbanked
• Qi Card is pivotal because government salaries/pensions are disbursed onto it

Audience & culture

Languages

• Arabic (official; Mesopotamian/Iraqi dialect — the ~75–80% Arab majority)
• Kurdish (official; dominant in the northern Kurdistan Region, ~15–20%)
• Turkmen/Turkoman & Syriac/Aramaic (recognized minority languages)
• Persian & English (limited; English in business, education & diaspora)

Religion

• Muslim ~95–98% — Shia ~61–64% (majority) and Sunni ~29–34%
• Christian ~1%
• Yazidi, Mandaean, Kaka'i & other minorities make up the rest

Median age

20.8 years (DataReportal, Jan 2025) — a very young, Gen-Z/millennial-heavy population

Key seasons

• Ramadan + Eid al-Fitr (the biggest social & spending period; activity shifts to late-night post-Iftar)
• Eid al-Adha (livestock, clothing & gifting spend)
• Arba'een / Ashura (one of the world's largest gatherings — tens of millions pilgrimage to Karbala; travel & commerce spike but the tone is solemn/religious)
• Nowruz (21 Mar — huge in Kurdistan)
• Wedding season (summer) & back-to-school (Sept)

Cultural notes

• Conservative, religious and family-centric, with a strong Shia identity and real sectarian sensitivities
• A mobile-first, video-first, price-sensitive youth market
• Iraqi-dialect Arabic creative (and Kurdish for the north) strongly outperforms
• Ramadan and the Arba'een pilgrimage reshape daily rhythm and spending

Where to find creators

• TikTok
• Instagram
• YouTube
• Snapchat
• Facebook

Media landscape

Creators & public figures

Top creators

Celebrities

Rahma Riad ~8.4M Instagram

Hugely popular young pop singer & actress (rose via Star Academy)

Kadim Al Sahir ~5M Instagram

Legendary singer-composer, the 'Caesar of Arabic Song' — a pan-Arab icon

Aymen Hussein ~5M Instagram

National-team striker & top scorer — one of Iraq's biggest football stars

Majid Al Mohandis ~4M Instagram

Star singer & composer ('Prince of Arabic song'), Iraqi-Saudi

Z

Zidane Iqbal ~2M Instagram

Footballer (ex-Manchester United academy) & Iraq national-team midfielder

Ali Adnan ~2M Instagram

Footballer (left-back), longtime Iraq national-team star, 2013 Asian Young Footballer of the Year

Affiliate & traffic

Hot verticals

• Nutra / health & beauty (COD — weight-loss, men's health, skincare)
• E-commerce / dropshipping (electronics, phones, fashion, gadgets via social commerce)
• Mobile apps & games (Android installs dominate)
• Betting/gambling & forex/crypto (grey — high demand but banned/blocked; run cautiously)
• Sweepstakes & utilities (VPN, cleaners, browsers)
• Finance — Islamic-finance-framed offers safer than interest lending

Active networks

• No large Iraq-only networks — buyers use global CPA platforms (Adsterra, PropellerAds, RichAds, Mobidea, AdCombo; Dr.Cash for nutra COD)
• MENA networks (ArabyAds, Boostiny, DCMnetwork) for regional buys that include Iraq
• Meta, Google/YouTube & TikTok self-serve ads
• Local influencer / UGC deals (TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat)

Payouts

• Tier-3 lower payouts — COD nutra AOV is modest and margins thin
• app-install & lead CPLs are the steadier earners
• display CPMs are low
• Kurdistan and Gulf-adjacent/diaspora traffic pays more

Competition

• Low–moderate
• a large, young, under-served, cheap-CPM market usually bought within broader MENA campaigns
• Constraints: a cash/COD-only economy, banned verticals (gambling/crypto/adult) pushed grey, and TikTok payment friction
• Iraqi-Arabic and Kurdish creative plus local social proof are essential

Seasonality

• Ramadan/Eid peak (late-night post-Iftar usage & spending)
• the Arba'een pilgrimage period spikes travel/commerce but demands a respectful tone
• summer weddings and back-to-school (Sept) lift discretionary spend

Traffic sources

• TikTok (enormous reach — but note CBI's ban on TikTok financial transfers complicates creator payouts)
• Facebook/Instagram (Meta) Ads
• Push & pop networks
• YouTube
• Snapchat
• Telegram & influencer/UGC

Good to know

Capital

Baghdad

Major cities

• Baghdad
• Basra
• Mosul
• Erbil (Hewlêr)
• Najaf
• Karbala
• Kirkuk
• Sulaymaniyah

Time zones

• Single zone — Arabia Standard Time (AST, UTC+3)
• Iraq abolished daylight saving in 2008, so it is a permanent +3 year-round

Android vs iOS

81% 19%

Android 81% iOS 19%

Phone brands

• Apple (~18.8%)
• Samsung (~16.6%)
• Infinix (~12.1%)
• Honor (~11.0%)
• Tecno (~10.4%)
• Xiaomi (~9.0%)

Top e-commerce

• Miswag (largest local marketplace, COD-default)
• Tamata
• Orisdi
• Jum3a
• OpenSooq (classifieds)
• Amazon/AliExpress via forwarders + Instagram/Facebook/TikTok social commerce (the real volume)

Peak activity

Evenings ~20:00–23:00 AST (after work & dinner); during Ramadan activity shifts to late-night post-Iftar; Friday reshapes the daytime rhythm

Creative taboos

Islam & religious figures (especially Shia symbols — Imams, Karbala, Ashura/Arba'een), Shia–Sunni sectarian tensions, Kurdish–Arab & ethnic issues, alcohol/pork, nudity & LGBT themes (illegal), militias & politics — keep creative modest and religiously careful

Also worth knowing

1. TikTok is the #1 platform with world-leading penetration, but the CBI's Dec-2024 ban on TikTok financial transfers plus a pending parliamentary ban push make TikTok-based monetization risky — always have a Meta/YouTube fallback.
2. Everything runs on cash/COD + mobile wallets (ZainCash/AsiaHawala) + Qi Card — build no card-first funnels.
3. Split the market: Iraqi-dialect Arabic for the centre/south, Kurdish for the wealthier, more open Kurdistan Region (Erbil/Sulaymaniyah).