Arbil Governorate

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This article is about the governorate of Iraq. For the city of the same name, see Arbil.

Arbil

Capital • Coordinates	Arbil • 36.1833° N 44.0333° E
Population (2001) • Density	1,425,000 ^[1] • ~/km²
Area	14,428 km²
Time zone	IST (UTC+3)
Main language(s)	Kurdish Assyrian Turkmen

Arbīl (Arabic: أربيل, Kurdish: هه‌ولێر Hewlêr; also transliterated as Irbil or Erbil) is a governorate of Iraq located in the north of the country. It derives its name from the city of Arbil, which is also its capital (36°11′N 44°02′E).

The governorate of Arbil covers an area of 14,428 km² (5,570 miles²) in the north of Iraq, with an estimated population (in 2001) of 1,425,000 people. It is largely populated by Kurds with Assyrian, Arab and Turkoman minorities. From 1974 onwards, the province of Arbil formed part of the Kurdish Autonomous Region of northern Iraq.

The region's economy is largely agricultural with some oil production and was badly affected by the conflict between Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi Kurds, although smuggling in defiance of the United Nations sanctions regime enabled many locals to keep afloat and even to prosper in some cases.

Since August 2004, the South Korean Zaytun Division (around 3,000 soldiers) were dispatched to the province for peace-keeping and reconstruction.