Iraq Economic Data

A few of my readers bugged me to go look for indicators in Iraq that were non-military. Certainly, there's more going on than death and occupation, so I actually decided to go hunting. I found the Associated Presshttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif' (along with lots of other long-term indicators).

I was honestly rather surprised to see not only that the Iraqi economy wasn't in terrible shape, but it seems to be doing better (by some indicators) than before the MNF invaded at all. Of all things down from prewar production, oil is the big one.

OIL PRODUCTION:

_Prewar: 2.58 million barrels per day.

_Dec. 19, 2007: 2.42 million barrels per day.

ELECTRICITY:

_Prewar nationwide: 3,958 megawatts. Hours per day (estimated): four to eight.

_Dec. 18, 2007, nationwide: 4,240 megawatts. Hours per day: 11.9.

_Prewar Baghdad: 2,500 megawatts. Hours per day (estimated): 16-24.

_Dec. 18, 2007, Baghdad: Megawatts not available. Hours per day: 8.9.

_Note: Current Baghdad megawatt figures are no longer reported by the U.S. State Department's Iraq Weekly Status Report.

TELEPHONES:

_Prewar land lines: 833,000.

_March 13, 2007: 1,111,000.

_Prewar cell phones: 80,000.

_June 2007: 9,204,000.

WATER:

_Prewar: 12.9 million people had potable water.

_Oct. 18, 2007: 19.6 million people have potable water.

SEWERAGE:

_Prewar: 6.2 million people served.

_Oct. 18, 2007: 11.3 million people served.


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I've been thinking for some time about demand-side economics in insurgencies: people are less likely to go out and try to overthrow the government when it is providing stuff like power, water, sewage, and trash collection (can't find data on that). So this has very good long-term implications... at least for stability.

Furthermore, GDP growth is erratic, but positive, since the rather damaging invasion ended. See it here.

So there you have it.