Iraqis Endure Worse Conditions Than Under Saddam, UN Survey Finds

The NewStandard's Chris Shumway reports on the recent release of the UNDP's "Iraq Living Conditions Survey 2004."

Researchers determined that some 24,000 Iraqis died as a result of the US-led invasion in 2003 and the first year of occupation. Children below the age of 18 comprised 12 percent of those deaths, according to survey data.

The study also indicates that the invasion and its immediate aftermath forced more than 140,000 Iraqis to flee their homes.

The 370-page report evaluating the survey, which was in turn based on interviews conducted with more than 21,000 Iraqi households during the spring and summer of 2004, might not end the controversy over civilian casualty figures, but the study’s authors drew a narrower range of estimated deaths. They report that the total number of war dead is between 18,000 and 29,000.

On the face of it, this is a substantially smaller estimate than the widely-cited Lancet figure of ~100k, but it still is within that report's confidence interval. More importantly, though, the studies don't speak to the same issues. As Shumway alludes, the Lancet survey tried to account for all "excess deaths," while the new UNDP survey does not. They also do not deal with the same time periods.

Still, the UNDP report's greatest contribution comes in providing a window into the damage the war has inflicted across virtually all of Iraqi society, particularly in areas like health care, nutrition, infrastructure, and education. Check out Shumway's article for a summary of just how bad things are.