Later this week, all of Iraq will be under curfew for two days. Borders will be open but somewhere between 43 and 46 million ordinary Iraqis have been instructed not go to work or school this Wednesday and Thursday.

The curfew doesn't have anything to do with other conflicts ongoing in the Middle East. It's happening because for the first time in almost three decades, Iraq is undertaking a census, an accurate count of how many people live in Iraq, what they do and how they live.

Between 120,000 and 140,000 specially-trained census takers will be asking residents to answer over 70 questions. Replies will be recorded on tablets and preliminary data could be available within 24 hours, Iraqi authorities say, with all results ready within two months.

Politicians argue the planned census is essential for the country's economic development. However, others are worried about the political sensitivities, and even potential danger, such a head count might bring.

"The situation in Iraq is explosive overall," Adel Bakawan, director of the Paris-based French Research Centre on Iraq, explained. "Because none of the central issues among the different components of Iraqi society — Shiite Muslim, Sunni Muslim and Kurdish — have been resolved."

The country's Shiite Muslims, who make up a majority, see the census as a "national imperative," Bakawan continued. "But the Sunnis view it as a mechanism for Shia domination over the country. And the Kurds perceive the census as a weapon deployed by the central government against them."

Iraq's last census happened in 1997 under the dictator Saddam Hussein. However, since the........

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