Summary
Reported access in Iraq stands at 52.9, below the regional average of 57.1, and reported experience at 40.4, below the regional average of 51.3; the resulting gap is +12.5 points, against a regional mean of +5.7. Access exceeds experience in 10 of the eleven domains. The mean absolute gap of 13.1 points is above the regional median of 12.9, indicating comparatively wide divergence between the two dimensions across domains.
Gap profile and summary
The profile reports the gap in each of the eleven domains; the summary reports access, experience, the gap and the gap types identified.
Access exceeds experience in 10 of the 11 domains. Large gaps (20 points or more) occur in family and social relationships (+34.3); health and care (+27.9); and leisure and community participation (+20.4) (access above experience). The gap is under 5 points in 3 of the ten public-service domains. Gap types: Access–Delivery Gap, Access–Experience Alignment.
Source: A-SCOPE MENA, Arab Access and Experience Dataset 2026 · non-probability samples; scores describe respondents.
Departures from the regional pattern
Relative to the regional mean gap in each domain, the gap in Iraq is markedly larger in leisure and community participation (+20.4 against −6.7); family and social relationships (+34.3 against +19.4); and service provision and assistance (+14.0 against −0.8) and markedly smaller, or reversed, in safety and policing (+0.6 against +10.8).
The state gap against the regional gap
For each domain, the circle marks the gap in the state and the diamond the regional mean gap; the grey segment is the difference. Domains are ordered by that difference.
Source: A-SCOPE MENA, Arab Access and Experience Dataset 2026 · non-probability samples; scores describe respondents.
Gap types and administrative deficits
At the selected thresholds, Iraq shows 2 of the five gap types: Access–Delivery Gap and Access–Experience Alignment.
Access–Delivery Gap
Evidence: access exceeds experience by 20 points or more in health and care; and leisure and community participation.
Associated deficit: Implementation & Service-Delivery DeficitDimensions to examine
- Implementation: potential disconnect between formal policy commitments and what is actually delivered.
- Delivery processes: procedures, routines and channels through which services reach users may not function consistently.
- Frontline administration: street-level officials may face difficulties applying rules, exercising discretion or handling cases consistently.
- Responsiveness: organisations may be slower or less able to respond to users’ needs, requests and problems.
- Service quality: users may experience problems with reliability, timeliness, consistency or usability despite being able to access the service.
Access–Experience Alignment
Evidence: the gap is under 5 points in safety and policing; environmental conditions; and digital access and use.
Associated deficit: No pronounced administrative deficitDimensions to examine
- Congruence: reported access and experience are relatively close.
- Service pathway consistency: what users can reach is broadly consistent with what they report experiencing.
- Implementation consistency: there is no pronounced divergence between access and experienced delivery in the observed domains.
- Administrative predictability: the relationship between reaching a service and experiencing it is relatively stable.
- Interpretive caution: alignment indicates low divergence, not necessarily good performance. A service can have low access and low experience while remaining closely aligned.
Implications for public administration and management
- In health and care; and leisure and community participation, where access exceeds experience by 20 points or more, the priority lies in the quality of delivery: the consistency of frontline practice, the responsiveness of organisations to users, and the reliability and timeliness of services that residents already reach.
- Access and experience are closely aligned in safety and policing; environmental conditions; and digital access and use. Alignment indicates consistency between reach and experience rather than high performance, and should be read with the level of both measures in these domains.
- Both access and experience fall below the regional averages in digital access and use; safety and policing; and family and social relationships; in these domains the level of provision and its quality both warrant attention, independently of the gap.
- Repeated measurement of access and experience in the same domains would allow the effect of reforms on the gap to be assessed over time.
Data
n = 101 respondents. The sample is a non-probability sample; scores describe respondents rather than the national population. Access is measured mainly with yes/no items and experience with rating scales, so part of any gap reflects instrument design; comparisons of the same domain across states are the most defensible readings.