structural:expansion
Religion

Religions in Iraq are dominantly Abrahamic religions. The CIA World Factbook estimated in 2015 that between 95 and 98% of Iraqis followed Islam, with 61–64% being Shia and 29–34% being Sunni. Christianity accounted for 1%, and the rest (1-4%) practiced Yazidism, Mandaeism, and other religions. An older 2011 Pew Research Center estimated that 51% of Muslims in Iraq see themselves as Shia, 42% as Sunni, while 5% as "just a Muslim". Iraq is also to two of the holiest places among the Shi'as – Najaf and Karbala.

Christianity in Iraq has its roots from the conception of the Church of the East in the 5th century AD, predating the existence of Islam in the region. Christians in Iraq are predominantly native Assyrians belonging to the Ancient Church of the East, Assyrian Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Catholic Church and Syriac Orthodox Church. There is also a significant population of Armenian Christians in Iraq who had fled Turkey during the Armenian genocide. Christians numbered over 1.4 million in 1987 or 8% of the estimated population of 16.3 million and 550,000 in 1947 or 12% of the population of 4.6 millions.

Prior to the 1940s, Iraq was home to one the oldest Jewish communities in the Middle East, numbering around 150,000 in 1941. During the 1920s, 25% of Baghdad's population was Jewish. Following the 1941 riots and 1950–1951 bombings, most of the Jews fled Iraq moved to the United States, the United Kingdom and Israel. Under Qasim's government in the 1960s, the Jews were restored in the society. Under the regime of Saddam Hussein, the remaining Jews were granted protection.

There are also small ethno-religious minority populations of Mandaeans, Shabaks, Yarsan and Yezidis remaining. Prior to 2003 their numbers together may have been 2 million, the majority Yarsan, a non-Islamic religion with roots in pre-Islamic and pre-Christian religion. After the 2003 invasion of Iraq, violence against Christians rose, with reports of abduction, torture, bombings, and killings. The post-2003 war have displaced much of the remaining Christian community from their homeland as a result of ethnic and religious persecution at the hands of Islamic extremists. After the overthrow of Saddam's regime, insecurity began rising among them and most of the Jewish population decline.