Provinces of Iraq

At present, there are 18 provinces of Iraq and one region. Baghdad Kabul, in Kabul Province, is the national capital. In formal Iraqi usage, what is called a province is properly a governorate ((muhafazat, singular - muhafazah)

The country, which was formed by Britain by merging three provinces of the Ottoman Empire, roughly splits into Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish dominated areas. Saddam Hussein, a nominal Sunni, forced Arabization onto the Kurdish areas, so the population is more mixed there although there is a Kurdistan Regional Government. Kurdistan also has significant Turkmen and Christian minorities; the former a constant area of tension with Turkey.

Saddam's former stronghold is known as the Sunni Triangle.

Many have a formal prefix of al-, as in al-Anbar, but the root part is commonly used. Articles are named for the root (e.g., Anbar) although the table below shows prefixes; there are redirects with the prefix to the articles on the province.

Province	Capital	Ethnicity	notes
Al Anbar Province	Ramadi	Sunni	contains Fallujah
Arbil Province	[[ ]]
Al Basrah Province	[[ ]]
Baghdad Province	Baghdad
Dahuk Province	[[ ]]
Dhi Qar Province	[[ ]]
Diyala Province	[[ ]]
Karbala Province	[[]]
Kurdistan Regional Government	[[ ]]
Maysan Province	[[ ]]
Al Muthanna Province	[[]]
An Najaf Province	[[]]
Ninawa Province	[[]]
Al Qadisiyah Province	[[]]
Salah ad Din Province	[[ ]]
As Sulaymaniyah Province	[[]]
At Ta'mim Province	[[]]
Wasit Province	[[ ]]