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Updates: 

The ISO maintenance committee has circulated a document N849, dated 2015-10-02. It proposes defining a region called Kurdistan, with the ISO code IQ-KU, comprising the governorates Arbil, As-Sulaymaniyah, and Dahuk. Halabja province is not yet listed by ISO. Note that Kurdistan would not be a province equivalent. It would be a "parent subdivision" for its provinces.

On 2014-10-30, ISO issued an update, changing the code for Kirkuk province from IQ-TS to IQ-KI.

It transpires that there is currently no provision in Iraqi law for forming new provinces (source [9], among others). However, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has a degree of autonomy. It decreed the split of Halabja province from As-Sulaymaniyah on 2014-03-16, and most sources I've seen seem to accept the change. On 2014-01-22, the Iraqi cabinet approved the splitting of Fallujah, Nineveh Plains, and Tuz Khormato provinces from Al-Anbar, Ninawa, and Salah ad-Din, respectively. That change is disputed. There was also mention of splitting Talafar province from Ninawa.

Update 10 to Geopolitical Entities and Codes (formerly FIPS 10-4) is dated 2012-12-31. It adds alternate names in Kurdish for the three provinces in the Kurdish Autonomous Region.

The Real Academia Española, which is the arbiter of the Spanish language, has promulgated new spelling rules as of November 2010. In domesticated words, the letter Q is no longer to be used except before U. One consequence is that the correct spelling of this country in Spanish will be Irak, replacing Iraq. It's possible that many writers of Spanish will refuse to comply, or will only gradually catch on to the new style.

Update 1 to the U.S. standard "Geopolitical Entities and Codes" is dated 2010-08-20. It changes the name of At-Ta'mim to Kirkuk. Sources [6]-[8] suggest that the naming of the province is controversial.

Many census records were lost in the 2003 Iraq war, but the aggregate data were preserved. News sources state that the Kurdish provinces of Arbil, Dahuk, and As-Sulaymaniyah were not enumerated in that census, because of the no-fly zone. Still, source [4] reports populations for those provinces.

Erratum: In the main table for Iraq on page 185, the population data come from the 1987 census. The population given for Arbil should be 770,439 (the last two digits were transposed). The total population for Iraq should be 16,335,198.

International standard ISO 3166-2 was published on December 15, 1998. It superseded ISO/DIS 3166-2 (draft international standard). For Iraq, the draft standard showed 18 provinces. The final standard shows the same 18 provinces and the same codes, with two exceptions. The code for As-Sulaymaniyah has been altered to SU, and the code for At-Ta'mim (Kirkuk) has been altered to TS. Also, the Arabic name for the type of division is the same as before, but ISO now translates the word into English as "governorates" rather than "provinces".

Country overview: 

Short name	IRAQ
ISO code	IQ
GEC code	IZ
Language	Arabic (ar)
Time zone	+3
Capital	Baghdad

 

In 1900, almost all of Iraq was part of the Ottoman Empire; its southern strip of mostly desert land was in Arabia. The Ottoman Empire was aligned with Germany in World War I. British forces occupied Mesopotamia, or Iraq-Arabi, in 1917. The Treaty of Sèvres (1920) divided up the Ottoman Empire. Iraq was one of the pieces. It was created as a British mandate under the League of Nations. The mandate ended in 1932, whereupon Iraq became independent.

From ~1935 to 1991 there was a lozenge-shaped neutral zone between Iraq and Saudi Arabia. It was occupied only by nomads, and neither Iraq nor Saudi Arabia wanted to be put to the trouble of administering it. After the Persian Gulf War, it was divided evenly between the two countries.

Other names of country: 

1. Arabic: al Jumhouriya al 'Iraqia (formal)
2. Danish: Irak, Mesopotamien (formal)
3. Dutch: Irak, Republiek Irak (formal)
4. English: Republic of Iraq (formal)
5. Finnish: Irak
6. French: Irak m, Iraq m
7. German: Irak m
8. Icelandic: Írak
9. Italian: Iraq m
10. Norwegian: Irak, Republikken Irak (formal)
11. Portuguese: Iraque, República f do Iraque m (formal)
12. Russian: Республика Ирак (formal)
13. Spanish: Irak, República f de Irak (formal), Iraq (obsolete)
14. Swedish: Irak
15. Turkish: Irak, Irak Cumhuriyeti (formal)

Origin of name: 

Arabic: well rooted, or lowland

Primary subdivisions: 

Iraq is divided into 18 muhafazat (sing. muhafazah: provinces).

Province	HASC	ISO	GEC	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital	Pc
Al-Anbar	IQ.AN	AN	IZ01	1,023,776	138,501	53,476	Ar-Ramadi	31
Al-Basrah	IQ.BA	BA	IZ02	1,556,445	19,070	7,363	Al-Basrah	61
Al-Muthanna	IQ.MU	MU	IZ03	436,825	51,740	19,977	As-Samawah	66
Al-Qadisiyah	IQ.QA	QA	IZ04	751,331	8,153	3,148	Ad-Diwaniyah	58
An-Najaf	IQ.NA	NA	IZ17	775,042	28,824	11,129	An-Najaf	54
Arbil	IQ.AR	AR	IZ11	1,095,992	14,471	5,587	Arbil	44
As-Sulaymaniyah	IQ.SL	SU	IZ05	1,362,739	17,023	6,573	As-Sulaymaniyah	46
Babil	IQ.BB	BB	IZ06	1,181,751	6,468	2,497	Al-Hillah	51
Baghdad	IQ.BG	BG	IZ07	5,423,964	734	283	Baghdad	10
Dahuk	IQ.DA	DA	IZ08	402,970	6,553	2,530	Dahuk	42
Dhi Qar	IQ.DQ	DQ	IZ09	1,184,796	12,900	4,981	An-Nasiriyah	64
Diyala	IQ.DI	DI	IZ10	1,135,223	19,076	7,365	Ba'qubah	32
Halabja	IQ.HA		IZ05				Halabja	46
Karbala'	IQ.KA	KA	IZ12	594,235	5,034	1,944	Karbala'	56
Kirkuk	IQ.TS	KI	IZ13	753,171	10,282	3,970	Kirkuk	36
Maysan	IQ.MA	MA	IZ14	637,126	16,072	6,205	Al-Amarah	62
Ninawa	IQ.NI	NI	IZ15	2,042,852	37,323	14,410	Mosul	41
Salah ad-Din	IQ.SD	SD	IZ18	904,432	24,751	9,556	Tikrit	34
Wasit	IQ.WA	WA	IZ16	783,614	17,153	6,623	Al-Kut	52
18 provinces				22,046,244	434,128	167,617
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: Codes from ISO 3166-2. GEC: Codes from GEC. Population: 1997-10-16 census (source [4]). Pc: First two digits of postal code for the province.

Postal codes: 

Iraq uses five-digit postal codes. The first digit indicates the geographic region; the first two digits, the province. The new system was introduced on 2004-05-25 by the Coalition Provisional Authority. Iraq had already developed postal code systems in 1991 and 2003, but they were ineffective (source [3]).

Further subdivisions:

The provinces are further subdivided into qadhas and nahiyas.

Territorial extent: 

Al-Muthanna includes the Iraqi half of the former Neutral Zone.

The Kurdish Autonomous Region consists of the provinces of Arbil, Dahuk, and As-Sulaymaniyah.

The UN LOCODE page  for Iraq lists locations in the country, some of them with their latitudes and longitudes, some with their ISO 3166-2 codes for their subdivisions. This information can be put together to approximate the territorial extent of subdivisions.

Origins of names: 

1. Arbil: Akkadian, thought to be from arba: four, ilan: gods
2. Babil: ancient Babylon, from Akkadian babu: gate, ilan: gods, i.e., gate of the gods
3. Baghdad: possibly "the gift of God"
4. Ninawa: ancient Nineveh, possibly from a Semitic word for habitation
5. Salah ad-Din: after Saladin (~1138-1193), Muslim general and statesman, born in Tikrit

Change history: 

Modern Iraq comprised roughly the vilayets (governorates) of Bagdad, Bassora (or Busra), and Mosul, plus a small section of Zor, under the Ottoman Empire, as well as a northern section of Arabia. A good deal of the western and southern border lies in desert lands, and has remained indefinite until quite recently. All province boundaries, especially those in the desert, have been subject to frequent change.

1. 1914: Under the Ottoman Empire, the vilayets of Baghdad, Basra, and Mosul corresponded approximately to modern Iraq.
2. 1920-12-23: Boundary between British mandate (Iraq) and French mandate (Syria) agreed on
3. ~1955: Iraq consisted of 14 liwa (provinces), as shown in the following table.

Province	1935	1947-10-19	1957-10-12	Area(km.²)	Capital	Modern
Amara	264,508	307,021	329,840	17,945	Al-Amarah	Maysan
Arbil	180,671	239,776	273,383	15,315	Irbil	Arbil
Baghdad	499,410	817,205	1,313,012	19,922	Baghdad	Baghdad, Salah ad-Din
Basra	286,312	368,799	503,330	18,022	Al-Basrah	Al-Basrah
Diwaniya	416,831	378,118	520,470	83,343	Ad-Diwaniyah	Al-Qadisiyah, Al-Muthanna, An-Najaf
Diyala	215,900	272,413	329,836	15,742	Ba'qubah	Diyala
Dulaim	129,836	192,983	253,023	137,969	Ar-Ramadi	Al-Anbar
Hilla	211,666	261,206	354,779	6,889	Al-Hillah	Babil
Karbala	124,290	274,264	217,375	7,170	Karbala	Karbala'
Kirkuk	223,634	286,005	388,839	19,543	Kirkuk	Kirkuk, As-Sulaymaniyah
Kut	138,200	224,938	295,899	14,814	Al-Kut	Wasit
Mosul	453,004	595,190	755,447	50,881	Mosul	Ninawa, Dahuk
Muntafiq	231,990	371,867	458,848	14,452	An-Nasiriyah	Dhi Qar
Sulaimani	184,204	226,400	304,895	11,993	As-Sulaymaniyah	As-Sulaymaniyah
14 provs.	3,560,456	4,816,185	6,298,976	434,000
Province names as shown in the 1951 Encyclopædia Britannica World Atlas. This transliteration from Arabic is no longer in fashion. Dates are the dates of censuses. Capital: Provincial capitals, circa 1950. The names are transliterated using a more modern method. Modern: Approximate present-day provinces covering the same area. Bear in mind that there have been a lot of minor boundary changes between provinces, especially in desert areas.

1. ~1962: Name of Dulaim province changed to Ramadi; name of Muntafiq province changed to Nasiriyah.
2. ~1970: Status of divisions changed from liwa to muhafazat.
3. 1971: Name of Hilla province changed to Babil.
4. 1976-02: Name of `Amara province changed to Maysan; name of Diwaniya province changed to Al-Qadisiyah; name of Kirkuk province changed to At-Ta'mim; name of Kut province changed to Wasit; name of Mosul province changed to Ninawa; name of Nasiriya province changed to Dhi Qar; name of Ramadi province changed to Al-Anbar; An-Najaf province split from Al-Muthanna; Salah ad-Din province split from Baghdad.
5. ~2004: Capital of Salah ad-Din province moved from Samarra to Tikrit.
6. ~2006-06: Name of At-Ta'mim province changed back to Kirkuk.
7. 2014-03-16: Halabja province split from As-Sulaymaniyah (former HASC code IQ.SU).

Other names of subdivisions: 

Spelling note: the original place names are in Arabic. There are many different schemes for transliterating from the Arabic to the Roman alphabet. Many of the variant names are just alternate transliterations of the same name. The definite article "al-" is sometimes omitted or inserted. The l of "al-" is usually assimilated to the following consonant if that consonant is ch, d, n, s, sh, or t.

1. Al-Anbar: Dulaim, Ramadi (obsolete)
2. Al-Basrah: Basra, Bassora (variant)
3. Al-Qadisiyah: Diwaniyah (obsolete)
4. Arbil: Arbela (obsolete); Erbil, Irbil (variant); Hewlêr (Kurdish)
5. As-Sulaymaniyah: Slêmanî (Kurdish)
6. Kirkuk: At-Ta'mim (alternate); Tamin (variant)
7. Babil: Babylon (variant); Hilla (obsolete)
8. Baghdad: Bagdá (Portuguese); Bagdad (Dutch, French, German, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish); Bağdat (Turkish)
9. Dahuk: D'hok (variant); Dihok (Kurdish)
10. Dhi Qar: Muntafiq, Nasiriyah (obsolete); Thi-Qar (variant)
11. Karbala': Kerbela (variant)
12. Maysan: `Amara (obsolete)
13. Ninawa: Al-Mawsil, Mosul (obsolete); Ninive (French, German); Nínive (Portuguese); Ninevah, Nineveh, Niniveh (variant)
14. Salah ad-Din: Salaheddin (variant)
15. Wasit: Kut, Kut-al-Imara (obsolete)

Population history:

Province	1965-10-14	1977-10-17	1987-10-17	1997-10-16
Al-Anbar	307,000	466,059	820,690	1,023,776
Al-Basrah	669,000	1,008,626	872,176	1,556,445
Al-Muthanna	143,000	215,637	315,815	436,825
Al-Qadisiyah	400,000	423,006	559,805	751,331
An-Najaf		389,680	590,078	775,042
Arbil	356,000	541,456	770,439	1,095,992
As-Sulaymaniyah	400,000	690,557	951,723	1,362,739
Kirkuk	474,000	495,425	601,219	753,171
Babil	488,000	592,016	1,109,574	1,181,751
Baghdad	2,045,000	3,189,700	3,841,268	5,423,964
Dahuk	146,000	250,575	293,304	402,970
Dhi Qar	499,000	622,979	921,066	1,184,796
Diyala	397,000	587,754	961,073	1,135,223
Karbala'	340,000	269,822	469,282	594,235
Maysan	345,000	372,575	487,448	637,126
Ninawa	743,000	1,105,671	1,479,430	2,042,852
Salah ad-Din		363,819	726,138	904,432
Wasit	334,000	415,140	564,670	783,614
Totals	8,047,000	12,000,497	16,335,198	22,046,244

Sources: 

1. [1] 1965 census data: Encyclopædia Britannica, 1984 edition. Data are rounded to nearest 1,000.
2. [2] 1977, 1987, 1997 census data: Statesman's Yearbook, editions of 1988-89, 1993-94, and 2006. In the 1997 data, the province populations add up to 22,046,284, which disagrees with the total given in the book.
3. [3] Press release, issued by the Japanese embassy to the U.S., and attributed to the Coalition Provisional Authority. Retrieved from http://japan.usembassy.gov/e/p/tp-20040526-06.html (dead link) on 2005-10-26.
4. [4] The Statesman's Yearbook 2006, ed. Barry Turner. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, Hampshire 2005.
5. [5] Library of Congress country study  (retrieved 1999).
6. [6] Wikipedia  says that At-Ta'mim changed its name to Kirkuk in mid-2006 (retrieved 2010-10-09).
7. [7] A statistical report from the Iraqi Central Organization for Statistics and Information Technology  lists Kirkuk as one of the provinces (retrieved 2010-10-09).
8. [8] An article in the Christian Science Monitor  says, "...Kirkuk Province, officially still called Tamim, its previous Baath Party-era name" (dated 2008-04-24, retrieved 2010-10-09).
9. [9] The Europe Turkmen Friendship  blog has an article titled "The Iraqi Cabinet Decides to Form Three New Governorates," by Reidar Visser (retrieved 2014-04-30).