45.78m Iraqi citizens · 340,131 foreign residents
50.2% Male
49.8% Female
Discuss your challenge
Iraq population monitor
A young nation of 46.1 million.
Final results of Iraq’s 2024 Population & Housing Census—the first complete nationwide census in 37 years. Official results released 26 November 2025.
Population structure
Iraq is demographically young
Urban population
70.2%
29.8% rural
Households
8.05m
5.7 people on average
Private housing
8.34m
72.1% owned or family-free
Dependency ratio
65
per 100 working-age people
2024 Census · latest final official release
Source: Iraq Ministry of Planning
Iraq · Kurdistan Region · Middle East
Turn local knowledge into decisive action.
Evidence-led market research and business intelligence, combining rigorous methods, cultural fluency and nationwide field capability across Iraq and the wider Middle East.
Discuss your challenge
Research signal
360°
Market understanding
Nationwide fieldwork
Local teams from Zakho to Basra
Operating reach
18
Governorates
3Core languages
Method mix
◌CATI
◌CAPI
◌Qualitative
◌Analytics
Sectors covered
Consumer
Public sector
Financial
Healthcare
ICT
Since 2009
More than a decade of research experience across Iraq, the Kurdistan Region and neighbouring markets.
Nationwide fieldwork
Research access across all 18 governorates, including rural and hard-to-reach communities.
Research + intelligence
Reliable evidence translated into commercially and socially meaningful recommendations.
What we do
Evidence that moves decisions forward.
We begin with the decision—not the method. From a focused business question to a nationwide social-research programme, we design the right evidence system and remain closely involved through design, fieldwork, quality control, analysis and activation.
Market Research
End-to-end quantitative and qualitative research that explains what people do, why they do it and what it means for your organisation—from usage and attitude and brand health to concept testing, customer experience, market sizing and channel studies.
Consumer
B2B
Brand
Business Intelligence
Decision-focused intelligence combining market evidence, competitor activity, category dynamics and local context to assess opportunities, reduce uncertainty and support market entry, growth and positioning strategies.
Market entry
Competition
Strategy
Public Opinion & Social Research
Independent measurement of political, social and economic attitudes, supported by contextual analysis for governments, research institutions, media organisations and development partners.
Polling
Social
Policy
Needs & Impact Assessment
Evidence for programmes and public policy: establishing needs before intervention, measuring outcomes after delivery and identifying what worked, for whom and where improvement is required.
Baseline
Evaluation
Impact
Fieldwork & Data Collection
Owned field operations across Iraq, supported by multilingual researchers, trained enumerators and independent quality control in urban, rural and hard-to-reach communities.
CATI
CAPI
Qualitative
Language & Research Support
In-house Arabic, Kurdish and English translation, transcription, moderation, survey programming and research management that preserve meaning across languages and cultural settings.
Translation
Transcription
Scripting
Built for complex markets
Local access.
International standards.
Our strongest advantage is not one method or technology. It is the combination of owned field operations, a wide researcher and enumerator network, cultural fluency, multilingual delivery, independent quality control and close senior oversight.
Owned field operations
Direct control over recruitment, training, data collection, verification and delivery—helping us protect both speed and data quality.
Multilingual by design
Arabic, Kurdish and English interviewing, moderation, translation and transcription delivered by teams who understand regional nuance.
Independent quality control
Transparent operations supported by callbacks, field validation, observation, review and senior-level attention throughout delivery.
Multi-modal delivery
Integrated telephone, face-to-face, online and qualitative capabilities, supported by in-house programming and survey management.
CATI
CAPI
CAWI
PAPI
Online panels
Focus groups
In-depth interviews
Ethnography
Sheekar Decision Intelligence
Evidence to decision.
Decision to execution.
For organisations with complex data, high-consequence questions and no reliable system connecting evidence to action. We identify what happened, explain why, anticipate what may happen next and structure the decision that follows.
Evidence
Verified data, defensible methods and transparent assumptions.
Foresight
Forecasts, scenarios, probabilities and practical early warning.
Action
Dashboards, roadmaps, ownership and accountable execution.
The capability stack
From raw evidence to a working decision system.
Data assurance & provenance
Authenticity, completeness, consistency, duplication and traceability checks.
Quality report + issue register ↗Research & survey design
Questionnaires, sampling, quotas, field protocols, weighting and bias control.
Defensible method + field QA ↗Advanced statistics
Multivariable models, reliability, validity, diagnostics and uncertainty.
Inference with clear limitations ↗AI & machine learning
Prediction, segmentation, anomaly detection, classification and recommendation.
Validated model + monitoring ↗GIS & spatial intelligence
District, neighbourhood and catchment mapping, location scores and geographic risk.
Decision maps + location scores ↗Forecasting & scenarios
Demand, population, price, turnout, capacity and stress-test pathways.
Base, upside + downside cases ↗Dashboards & decision systems
Role-based KPIs, alerts, workflow states, ownership and audit trails.
Visibility + accountability ↗Executive & technical communication
One evidence base translated into briefs, reports, policy notes and roadmaps.
One evidence base, many audiences ↗Sector applications
One analytical core, adapted to sixteen decision environments.
01Elections & public opinion
02Government & policy
03Telecom & digital
04Banking & FinTech
05Real estate & construction
06Retail & FMCG
07Universities & research
08Health & life sciences
09Oil, gas & energy
10Transport & logistics
11Hospitality & tourism
12Agriculture, water & food
13NGOs & development
14Media & public sentiment
15Workforce & organisations
16Investment & market entry
Engagement model
Start with the decision. Build only the analytical depth and technology required to improve it.
1
Define
2
Audit
3
Design
4
Build
5
Validate
6
Deploy
Data-quality pack
GIS maps
Executive brief
Dashboard
Predictive model
Scenario simulator
Implementation roadmap
Training
Human-accountable intelligence
No synthetic evidence presented as observed data. No predictive claim without validation. No causal language where the design supports association only. No high-stakes automation without human review and auditability.
Sector experience
One market. Many realities.
Category dynamics change across cities, regions, income groups, institutions and communities. Our sector experience helps us ask the right questions, reach the right people and interpret findings within their real operating context.
FMCG & Retail
Consumers, brands, products and channels
Government & Public Policy
Citizens, services and policy outcomes
Telecommunications & ICT
Usage, experience and digital behaviour
Healthcare
Patients, professionals and care pathways
Financial Services
Banking, access, trust and inclusion
Automotive
Ownership, mobility and purchase journeys
Aviation & Hospitality
Travel, service and visitor experience
Humanitarian & Development
Needs, programmes and measurable impact
Our philosophy
Insight is valuable only when it is accurate, contextual and usable.
Sheekar was founded to make complex and less-understood markets clearer. We work to understand our clients’ questions, the society behind the data and the practical decisions the evidence must support.
Accuracy
Evidence must be dependable. We combine experienced teams, careful methods and active quality control to produce findings clients can use with confidence.
Local knowledge
Culture is essential to understanding markets and society. Our researchers bring linguistic fluency, contextual awareness and lived regional experience.
Differentiation
We bring together three sources of value: the quality of our people, the strength of our scientific approach and partnerships built around each assignment.
Determination
Complex research problems require persistence. We adapt methods, solve access challenges and remain accountable until the research question is answered.
How we work
From question to confident action.
01 Frame Define the decision, audience and evidence gap.
02 Design Build a practical, culturally appropriate methodology.
03 Deliver Execute with active quality control and transparency.
04 Activate Translate findings into a clear course of action.
“
Deep local knowledge turns data into context—and context into better decisions.
Sheekar Research philosophy
Activities
Sheekar in action.
Kurdish Citizens’ Illegal Migration Conference
Migration Seminar for Political Party Leaders
CATI Research Operations
Field Research
Trusted experience
Research partnerships across sectors.
Our published company records include work with private companies, public institutions, international organisations and global research partners.
About Sheekar
Independent thinking, grounded in the region.
Founded in 2009, Sheekar Research provides research and consultancy across Iraq, the Kurdistan Region and the wider Middle East. From our head office in Erbil, we combine academic depth, market-research discipline and practical field expertise to make complex markets and social environments easier to understand.
Our work spans commercial, political, social, economic, administrative, legal, security and development questions. We support private companies, public institutions, international organisations and research partners with reliable data, contextual analysis and recommendations designed for action.
Our mission is simple: improve how decision-makers understand consumers, citizens, competitors and communities—so they can identify opportunities, strengthen performance and make choices with greater confidence.
Start a conversation
What decision are you trying to make?
Tell us what you need to understand. We will help shape the right research approach.
[email protected]
[email protected]
+964 750 449 0727
+964 750 449 9391
Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq