In a meeting on Wednesday, the Kurdistan Region Council of Ministers rejected a Iraqi federal government decision setting the Kurdistan Region’s population share at 12.68%, saying the figure contradicts the officially approved results of Iraq’s 2024 general population and housing census.

During the meeting, the Council reviewed a report presented by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Minister of Planning on official correspondence and recent decisions issued by the Iraqi federal government concerning the census results.

The report focused in particular on a decision by Iraq’s Higher Population Council, which set the Kurdistan Region’s population share at 12.68%.

The Council rejected the figure, stressing that the officially approved November 2024 census results put the Kurdistan Region’s population at 6.37 million, representing 14.14% of Iraq’s total population.

Read More: The Iraqi Census and the Kurdistan Region

The Council said the census in the Kurdistan Region was conducted based on understandings and agreements between the KRG Ministry of Planning and the federal Ministry of Planning, using mechanisms approved by the Federal Council of Ministers.

It therefore tasked the KRG ministries of Planning and Justice, together with the Council of Ministers’ Diwan and Secretariat, with taking all necessary constitutional, legal, and judicial measures to correct the figure.

The Council also called on the relevant federal authorities to adhere to the officially approved results of the 2024 census.