ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The Kurdistan Region’s share of the federal budget is estimated to increase by around one billion dollars annually, while the Region’s seats in the Iraqi parliament would see a drop, based on projections of the census results announced Monday.

According to preliminary results previously announced by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), the population of the Kurdistan Region sits at 6.4 million, comprising 13.88 percent of Iraq’s 46 million population. 

The Iraqi parliament in June 2023 passed Article 12 of the Iraqi Budget law, setting the Region’s budget at around 12.7 percent of the federal budget. The percentage amounts to over 12 billion annually. The 13.88 percent projected by The New Region implies an increase of around one billion dollars annually to the Region’s budget share.

The results of the census also spell a stark drop in the Kurdistan Region’s representation in the Iraqi parliament. 

The Iraqi constitution outlines that each parliamentary member represents 100,000 Iraqis in the parliament. 

Of the current 329 seats in the Iraqi parliament, the Kurdistan Region has 63 seats, amounting to over 19 percent of the total seats in the Iraqi parliament.

Based on the Iraqi constitution, the result of the census warrants 460 seats in the parliament. Based on the projections, Kurds will grab around 63 to 64 seats.

The Iraqi planning ministry has yet to put out official numbers of the Kurdistan Region’s population at the time of this writing, with a Kurdish official attributing the factor to a delay in counting the numbers in disputed areas.

A technical committee will be formed to count the numbers in the disputed areas, Dilzar Hamasalih, director of Erbil’s statistics department, told The New Region on Monday.

Hamasalih added that the final number of Iraq’s Kurdish population is contingent on the result of the committee’s work.

“The final number is dependent on the technical committee that is set to begin working in the upcoming days,” he said.