Here is the complete list, with population estimates from 2003 in parentheses:
- Basra: Madina(159,000), Qurna (137,000) Zubayr (277,000), Garma, (106,000)
- Dhi Qar: Rifai (280,000)
- Muthanna: Warka (n/a), Rumaytha (213,000)
- Najaf: Kufa (275,000)
- Babel: Musayyib (280,000)
- Wasit: Suwayra (162,000), Aziziyya (113,000)
- Baghdad: Sadr City (n/a), Mahmudiyya (250,000)
- Diyala: Khanaqin (160,000)
- Salahaddin: Balad (167,000), Dujayl (n/a)
- Nineveh: Sinjar (166,000)
Methodological problems aside, it is noteworthy that according to population estimates from 2003, most of these districts have smaller populations than the districts recently upgraded to governorate status by the cabinet: Tell Afar was estimated at 301,000; the Nineveh plains governorate formed by the 3 districts of Hamdaniya, Tell Kayf and Shaykhan at around 392,000; Falluja at 426,000. The exception is Tuz Khurmato, estimated at only 153,000 in 2003. There aren’t that many districts that had more than 300,000 inhabitants in 2003 without at the same time being the provincial seat of government – Shatra in Dhi Qar is the main exception at around 315,000.
Simultaneously, some more news about the thinking of the Iraqi government on the issue of new governorates has emerged. Regarding Baghdad, the legal adviser of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has made the claim that the city is indivisible because of the capital status enshrined in the Iraqi constitution with reference to its governorate borders (article 124).
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