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One million Iraqis dead

by AFP on Thursday, 31 January 2008

WAR TOLL: Iraqis killed since the US-led invasion began in 2003 now estimated to have
topped 1mn, according to study. (Getty Images)

More than one million Iraqis have died because of the war in Iraq since the US-led
invasion of the country in 2003, according to a study published on Wednesday.

A fifth of Iraqi households lost at least one family member between March 2003 and
August 2007 due to the conflict, said data compiled by London-based Opinion Research
Business (ORB) and its research partner in Iraq, the Independent Institute for
Administration and Civil Society Studies (IIACSS).

The study based its findings on survey work involving the face-to-face questioning of
2,414 Iraqi adults aged 18 or above, and the last complete census in Iraq in 1997, which
indicated a total of 4.05 million households.

Respondents were asked how many members of their household, if any, had died as a result
of the violence in the country since 2003, and not because of natural causes.

"We now estimate that the death toll between March 2003 and August 2007 is likely to
have been in the order of 1,033,000," ORB said in a statement.

The margin of error for the survey was 1.7%, making the estimated range between 946,000
and 1.12 million fatalities.

The highest rate of deaths throughout the country occurred in Baghdad, where more than
40% of households had lost a family member.

According to a July 2007 estimate by the US, Iraq's population is around 27 million.

The country has been wracked by conflict since the March 2003 invasion which deposed
dictator Saddam Hussein, with UN estimates putting the number of displaced people from
the conflict at more than four million, nearly half of which have fled to neighbouring
countries.