Cost of Living in Iraq
Image credit: Hardscarf
Purchasing Power vs. United States
Based on GDP per capita (PPP). Iraq: $12,725/capita.
Cities in Iraq
Income Category
Happiness
5.2 / 10
#90 globally
GDP per Capita
Population
How Far Your Money Goes
Prices are 72% lower than the global benchmark (New York City = 100).
Child Education
Public-school quality, expat access, instruction language, and homeschool legality for relocating families.
Public schools
How realistic the local public-school path is for a relocating family in Iraq.
Quality
Limited public-school fit
Expat access
Possible, but difficult in practice
hardInstruction
Arabic / Kurdish
Language fit is more manageable.
PISA / outcomes
Qualitative only
Using curated quality notes for now.
Why this quality rating
Iraq's public-school path is highly situational and not generally the default option for expat families seeking stability and broad support.
Why the expat-access rating looks like this
Resident enrollment may be possible, but the local-language environment and uneven system conditions make the public route difficult for most expat families.
❓ Homeschooling
Not specifically addressedIraq requires compulsory education but does not have a specific homeschooling framework. The ongoing security situation and limited institutional capacity mean enforcement is inconsistent. Not a practical destination for worldschooling families.
Homeschool legality in Iraq — check current regulations before committing.
Source: User-curated family relocation research (initial seed) (2026-04-14)
Childcare & Domestic Help
Current city samples for the family-support costs we track in Iraq.
Full-time nanny (5 days)
$500-$700
1 tracked city, not a national average
Live-in / 24-7 nanny
$900-$1,200
1 tracked city, not a national average
Source: curated family relocation research
Healthcare
System strength, outcome signals, facility coverage, and self-pay visibility in Iraq.
Method: country metrics come from public system indicators, facility coverage reflects mapped providers we can inventory, direct pricing only reflects observed self-pay pages, and relative care cost can fall back to broad cost-of-living healthcare indices. Sparse pricing does not imply sparse healthcare availability.
Healthcare system
LimitedCoverage looks thinner, hospital capacity looks tighter, and households still pay a large share themselves weigh on this rating.
Public care
LimitedA visible public hospital footprint help, but public coverage looks thinner and patients still shoulder a meaningful share of costs.
Private care
GoodA large tracked hospital and clinic network help, but self-pay pricing transparency is still sparse.
UHC coverage
64/100
2023
Physicians
1.02/1k
2022
Hospital beds
1.06/1k
2018
Out of pocket
54%
2023
Outcome signals
Life expectancy
72.4 yrs
2024
Maternal mortality
66/100k
2023
Neonatal mortality
12.5/1k
2024
International patient readiness
LimitedMultiple facilities have websites and there is visible specialty depth help, but price transparency is still sparse and headline outcomes are less reassuring.
Pricing transparency
LimitedMultiple facilities have crawlable websites help, but published self-pay prices are scarce.
Facility coverage
Self-pay pricing visibility
No verified self-pay prices are published for the tracked facilities in Iraq yet.
This usually reflects low online price transparency rather than a lack of healthcare providers.
Notable facilities
System metrics: World Bank WDI · Updated 2026-06-01
Safety & Governance
Street Safety
Source: Numbeo where a city row is matched; otherwise World Bank WGI and country-level safety context.
Political Stability
World Bank WGI scale: -2.5 to +2.5.
Wages by Sector
| Sector | Median |
|---|---|
| Administrative & Support Services | — |
| Agriculture & Farming | — |
| Arts, Entertainment & Recreation | — |
| Construction | — |
| Education | — |
| Finance & Insurance | — |
| Healthcare & Social Work | — |
| Hospitality & Food Service | — |
| Information & Technology | — |
| Manufacturing | — |
| Mining & Quarrying | — |
| Other Services | — |
| Professional & Scientific Services | — |
| Public Administration & Defence | — |
| Real Estate | — |
| Retail & Wholesale Trade | — |
| Transport & Logistics | — |
| Utilities | — |
2024 annual wages in Iraq · Source: GDP-derived estimate
Visa Information (US passport)
Short-stay entry
US passport holders can obtain a visa on arrival.
About Iraq
Iraq is an upper middle income country of 46,042,015 people where relocation is usually a work-driven decision, not a lifestyle experiment. Baghdad is the capital and main business hub, while Erbil in the Kurdish north generally offers better day-to-day conditions for foreigners with employer backing. Costs are extremely low, among the world's cheapest and well below the regional average, but the tradeoff is serious: visas are restrictive and typically require sponsorship, tourism is limited, and security risk remains high outside secured compounds. Arabic is official, with Kurdish widely spoken in the north, which matters for where daily services feel navigable. Healthcare is limited outside major cities, medical tourism is common, and internet reliability is uneven. The hot desert climate, with 40-50°C summers and little rain, is another practical constraint.
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Common questions about Iraq
Sourced from SortaRich's public-data ranking engine — every figure links to its institutional source.
Is Iraq a good country to live in?
Iraq is a moderately rated country to live in per the World Happiness Report (5.2 of 10, ranking #90 globally). Whether it's right for you depends on your priorities — use SortaRich's free quiz to see how Iraq ranks for your specific income, family, and visa profile.
Sources: World Happiness Report, SortaRich Methodology
How much does it cost to live in Iraq?
The cost of living in Iraq is about 72% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City), with an overall cost-of-living index of 28. SortaRich personalizes these numbers to your home city's purchasing power so the comparison is real, not nominal.
Sources: SortaRich Cost of Living, World Bank ICP 2021
How far does $1 go in Iraq?
$1 goes about 2.4x further in Iraq than in the baseline market — your home-country income stretches that much more (current PPP ratio: 2.40). The figure adjusts every year as exchange rates and local prices shift. SortaRich uses World Bank ICP 2021 as the anchor and Penn World Tables 11.0 for cross-validation.
Sources: World Bank ICP 2021, Penn World Tables 11.0
What visa do I need to move to Iraq?
To move to Iraq you have these visa options: Tourist entry: visa_on_arrival. Visa rules change frequently — confirm the current terms with the official immigration authority before booking flights.
Source: SortaRich Visa Database
What are the best cities to live in Iraq?
The best cities to live in Iraq are Baghdad — those are the most-searched options among the 1 cities profiled in the SortaRich database. Each city page includes a personalized PPP comparison versus your home city plus subnational price data where available.
Source: SortaRich City Index