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Facts & Figures
The Impact of Sanctions in Iraq

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Population1 GDP/capita2

18.1 million (1989) $2840 (1989)

21.2 million (1997) $200 (1997)

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Birth Rate3(annual average) Death rate Annual growth rate Total Fertility Rate (average births per woman)

40.3/1000 (1985-90) 7.2/1000 (1985-09) 3.3% (1985-90) 6.15 (1985-90)

38.4/1000 (1990-95) 10.4/1000 (1990-95) 2.8% (1990-95) 5.70 (1990-95)

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Infant mortality rate4 [deaths to children less than one year of age/1000 live births] Child mortality rate5 [deaths to children less than firve years of age/1000 births]

80(1989-90) . 40 (1985-90)

160 (1994-95) . 198 (1990-95)

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While the accuracy of statistics demonstrating the impact of United Nations sanctions on Iraq cannot be fully determined, there is no question that their impact has been severe. Infant mortality has doubled from the pre-sanctions era, with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reporting a fivefold increase in mortality among children under age five. While the latter figure may be overstated,⁶ the health and nutritional profile of young children remains very poor, with an estimated 30 percent of children suffering from chronic or acute malnutrition,⁷ Kwashiorkor and marasmus--symptoms of severe protein deficiency and usually seen only in famines--are increasingly common. In explaining this situation, diverse sources point to a combination of "poor nutrition and increased prevalence of disease--compounded by inadequate health services"⁸--this in a country where, prior to the Gulf War, more than 90 percent of the population had access to primary health care. Maternal mortality is also believed to have increased several times since 1991, although hard data are not available.⁹

Other statistics reflecting the impact of the sanctions include a two-thirds decrease in the number of calories per capita supplied by government food rations; a 12-fold increase in the incidence of typhoid; and a 90 percent drop in per capita income (GDP/capita). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), "The vast majority of the country's population has been on a semi-starvation diet for years."¹⁰

Prior to the imposition of sanctions, Iraq imported some 70 percent of its food. Under the sanctions regime, the government attempted to increase agricultural production, but productivity has been limited by the lack of inputs (machinery, pesticides, water), as well as by increasing soil salinity. An FAO Mission to Iraq in the summer of 1997 found that 25 percent of young men and 16 percent of young women show signs of chronic energy deficiency, reflecting the reduced availability of food over the past seven years.¹¹ This report also cited a number of nutrients missing from present-day diets in Iraq, vitamins A and C most notable among them. Before sanctions, 93 percent of urban and 70 percent of rural residents had access to potable water. Currently more than half of rural residents do not have access to clean water. Studies by UNICEF (1994) and WHO (1996) cited bacterial contamination in at least 30 percent of samples tested--also partly to blame for the increases in disease and mortality in the country.

--Compiled by Pamela Ording-Beecroft and Sally Ethelston

1 Population Reference Bureau, World Population Data Sheet (Washington, DC: Population Reference Bureau, 1989, 1997).
2 Peter Boone, Harris Gazdar and Athar Hussain, Sanctions Against Iraq: Costs of Failure (New York: Center for Economic and Social Rights [CESR], 1997), p. 12.
3 Data on birth rates, death rates, growth rates and fertility rates are from World Population Prospects: The 1996 Revision Annex II & III (New York: DESIPA/United Nations Population Division, 1996), p. 234.
4 The Lancet 346 December 2, 1995, p. 1485. Letter from Sarah Zaidi (CESR), Marcy C. Smith Fawzi (Harvard School of Public Health, Boston).
5 Ibid.
6 The Lancet 350, October 11, 1997, p. 1105. Letter from Sarah Zaidi, CESR.
7 John Lancaster and Nora Boustany, "Iraqis Bask Cautiously in Spotlight Drawn by Annan's Visit," The Washington Post, March 1, 1998, p. A25.
8 Unsanctioned Suffering: A Human Rights Assessment of United Nations Sanctions on Iraq (New York: CESR, 1996), p. 10.
9 The Health Conditions of the Population in Iraq Since the Gulf Crisis (Geneva: WHO, March 1996), p. 8.
10 Ibid., p. 16.
11 "Special Report: FAO/WFP Food Supply and Nutrition Assessment Mission to Iraq" (Rome: FAO, 1997), p. 10.