The Iraqi census of 1957 was the second

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

taken in the

Kingdom of Iraq The Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq was the Iraqi state located in the Middle East from 1932 to 1958. It was founded on 23 August 1921 as the Kingdom of Iraq, following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the Mesopotamian campaign of the First World W ...

. The census took place after more than 25 years of the establishment of the Iraq. The census showed that the country had a total population of 6,339,960.

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

made 95% of the total population, with

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

coming second at 3.3%,

Yezidis Yazidis, also spelled Yezidis (; ), are a Kurdish-speaking endogamous religious group indigenous to Kurdistan, a geographical region in Western Asia that includes parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Iran. The majority of Yazidis remaining in ...

with 0.88%, and

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

with 0.08%. The biggest city was the capital

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

, with a population of 490,496. {, class = class="wikitable sortable" !Governorate !Today part of !Muslims !Christians !Jewish !Mandaeans !Yezidis !Others !Unknown !Total , - , Amara ,

Maysan Maysan Governorate () is a governorate in southeastern Iraq, bordering Iran. Its administrative centre is the city of Amarah, and it is composed of six districts. Before 1976, it was named Amara Province. Etymology This region was called ''Messè ...

, 325,900 , 1,086 , 65 , 2,579 , 71 , 9 , 113 , 329,840 , - , Baghdad ,

and

Saladin Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from a Kurdish family, he was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, h ...

, 1,235,538 , 68,775 , 3,634 , 3,768 , 311 , 431 , 555 , 1,313,012 , - , Basra ,

Basra Basra () is a port city in Iraq, southern Iraq. It is the capital of the eponymous Basra Governorate, as well as the List of largest cities of Iraq, third largest city in Iraq overall, behind Baghdad and Mosul. Located near the Iran–Iraq bor ...

, 489,117 , 11,238 , 352 , 2,182 , 59 , 94 , 288 , 503,330 , - , Erbil ,

Erbil Erbil (, ; , ), also called Hawler (, ), is the capital and most populated city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The city is the capital of the Erbil Governorate. Human settlement at Erbil may be dated back to the 5th millennium BC. At the h ...

, 265,984 , 7,198 , 1 , 41 , 20 , 2 , 137 , 273,383 , - , Diyala , Diyala , 328,410 , 816 , 67 , 223 , 12 , 195 , 113 , 329,836 , - , Diwaniya , Qadisiyah, Muthanna and

Najaf Najaf is the capital city of the Najaf Governorate in central Iraq, about 160 km (99 mi) south of Baghdad. Its estimated population in 2024 is about 1.41 million people. It is widely considered amongst the holiest cities of Shia Islam an ...

, 519,732 , 429 , 42 , 192 , 55 , 1 , 19 , 520,470 , - , Dulaim , Al-Anbar , 244,570 , 8,041 , 18 , 243 , 18 , 20 , 113 , 253,023 , - , Hilla , Babil , 354,047 , 502 , 16 , 72 , 28 , 11 , 103 , 354,779 , - , Karbala ,

Karbala Karbala is a major city in central Iraq. It is the capital of Karbala Governorate. With an estimated population of 691,100 people in 2024, Karbala is the second largest city in central Iraq, after Baghdad. The city is located about southwest ...

, 217,143 , 91 , 18 , 38 , 9 , 17 , 59 , 217,375 , - , Kirkuk ,

Kirkuk Kirkuk (; ; ; ) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of the Kirkuk Governorate. The city is home to a diverse population of Kurds, Iraqi Turkmen, Iraqi Turkmens and Arabs. Kirkuk sits on the ruins of the original Kirkuk Cit ...

, 375,232 , 13,150 , 6 , 242 , 23 , 56 , 130 , 388,839 , - , Kut , Wasit , 294,955 , 313 , 52 , 225 , 42 , 4 , 308 , 295,899 , - , Mosul , Ninawa and

Dohuk Duhok (; ; , ) is a city in Kurdistan Region, Iraq. It is the Capital (political), capital city of Duhok Governorate. Name The city of Duhok received its name from the Kurdish languages, Kurdish words ’du’ (two) and ’hok’ (lump) as a ...

, 609,247 , 90,348 , 18 , 61 , 55,129 , 169 , 475 , 755,447 , - , Muntafiq , Dhi Qar , 456,885 , 314 , 17 , 1,544 , 28 , 3 , 57 , 458,848 , - , Sulaymaniya , Sulaymaniya , 302,825 , 1,925 , 13 , 15 , 23 , 23 , 71 , 304,894 , - , Total , , 6,057,493 , 206,206 , 4,906 , 11,825 , 55,885 , 1,039 , 2,606 , 6,339,960

Sources

1957 Iraqi census
(archived from the original on February 27, 2012). Demographics of Iraq Censuses by country 1957 censuses