Kurdistan Autonomous Region


 * "Kurdistan" redirects here. For the wider cultural/historical region, see Kurdistan (cultural region).

The Kurdistan Autonomous Region (Kurdish: Herêma Xweser a Kurdistanê; Arabic: منطقة كُردستان الذاتية minṭaqat kurdistān adh-dhātīyah), informally East Kurdistan (Rojhilata Kurdistanê; كُردستان الشرق kurdistān ash-sharq) or just Kurdistan (Kurdistan; كُردستان kurdistān), is an autonomous region of the Iraqi Arab Republic and the only legally autonomous region in the Arab Union. It occupies the northern fifth of Iraq, and is home to a population of approximately 7.48 million, about 80% of whom are ethnic Kurds, 10% Arabs and the remaining 10% persons of mixed heritage (mostly part-Kurd, part-Arab) and other smaller ethnic groups native to the region.