Baghdad: The advisor to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Mahdi Al-Alaq, confirmed on Monday that talk of peak population growth in Iraq is exaggerated. 'Talk of peak population growth in Iraq is greatly exaggerated,' Al-Alaq told the Iraqi News Agency - INA.

According to Iraqi News Agency, the population growth rate in Iraq remains high at 2.5 percent. However, Al-Alaq noted that this is a decline from over 3 percent two decades ago, indicating a decrease in population growth rates over the past twenty years.

Al-Alaq highlighted that during the last century and in the eighties, Iraqi women had an average of 6 to 7 births. Recent census data shows a significant reduction, with the average number of births now at 3. While this remains higher than the global average, it represents a real decrease contributing to the reduced population growth rate of 2.51 percent. In contrast, the global average growth rate stands at 1.1 percent, underscoring that Iraq's rate is still relatively high.