ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iraqi interior ministry spokesperson Miqdad Mirri said Wednesday that the number of cars on Iraq’s roads reached 7 million in the beginning of 2026, with nearly 140,000 new vehicles having been registered.

Mirri told a press conference that in the last five months, over 202,000 new driver licenses  have been issued, nearly 1800 motorcycles registered, and nearly 600,000 different kinds of paperwork applications have been processed.

Earlier in the week, At least 21 people died and dozens more were injured following a bus rollover accident on the Nasiriyah-Basra road in Dhi Qar province on Sunday.

At least 870 people were killed in nearly 5,000 car accidents across Iraq in 2024, a significant decrease from the previous years, according to Iraq’s interior ministry.

The World Bank announced Friday that it has signed off on a $900 million financing package to enhance Iraq and the Kurdistan Region’s road infrastructure, aiming to facilitate safer traveling and support key road corridors for domestic mobility and regional connectivity.

Roads account for 90 percent of transportation in Iraq, though they remain “underdeveloped and vulnerable to deterioration, climate pressures, and road safety risks,” The World Bank said in a statement.

Baghdad in particular, already experiences severe congestions on the road and daily traffic jams, costing the Iraqi economy an estimated $2 billion annually, according to non-governmental estimates.