1,206-CITY ATLASSOURCE-BACKED CITY REFERENCE
Iraq
Compare this sourced profile of Najaf, Iraq before planning. Stable fields identify the place; confirm current transport, access and opening details with official sources.
01What the data says — and does not say
This page separates the checked GeoNames row for Najaf—482,576, Asia/Baghdad, and source coordinates—from live travel claims. Those fields identify and compare the record; they do not prove current transport, accessibility, census totals, or a City Atlas Club visit.
Wikidata's localized description: city in central-south Iraq.
02This city's dataset fingerprint
The source row behind Najaf is GeoNames ID 98860. Its recorded administrative path is Kufa → Najaf → Iraq, and GeoNames classifies the place as a first-order administrative seat. Najaf occurs once as a primary city label in this atlas sample; the numeric ID remains the durable source key if names change. The city row itself was updated 2024-09-05; that date belongs to the source record, not to every transport or visitor detail in the real destination.
Within the fixed 1,206-record atlas, Najaf ranks 1,190 by recorded population. Inside the 11 selected Iraq entries it ranks 11; inside the 243 entries in its broad region it ranks 241. Its 482,576 population value is 0.40 times the 1,211,849 median for the country cohort and 0.53 times the 902,588 regional median. Najaf sits in the lower half of this atlas's selected Iraq entries. Najaf's recorded value is materially below the country-cohort median used here. These comparisons describe this selected dataset only; they are not current census rankings or official urban-area boundaries.
Najaf's three nearest other atlas coordinates are Karbala at 72.23 km with 1,218,732 recorded people; Abū Ghurayb at 143.096 km with 900,000 recorded people; Baghdad at 146.271 km with 7,216,000 recorded people. The closest-to-farthest distance spread is 74.041 km. Compared with Karbala, Najaf's recorded population is 0.40 times as large. Against Najaf, Karbala follows Kerbala District → Karbala → Iraq in the source. Its point has higher latitude and lower longitude; it belongs to the same selected Iraq cohort, uses the shared Asia/Baghdad identifier, and carries the same first-order administrative seat class. Its recorded population is above Najaf's. Against Najaf, Abū Ghurayb follows Abu Ghraib District → Baghdad → Iraq in the source. Its point has higher latitude and lower longitude; it belongs to the same selected Iraq cohort, uses the shared Asia/Baghdad identifier, and carries second-order administrative seat rather than first-order administrative seat. Its recorded population is above Najaf's. Against Najaf, Baghdad follows Al Rusafa → Baghdad → Iraq in the source. Its point has higher latitude and higher longitude; it belongs to the same selected Iraq cohort, uses the shared Asia/Baghdad identifier, and carries capital of a political entity rather than first-order administrative seat. Its recorded population is above Najaf's. Its nearest-neighbor distance ranks 568 of 1,206 from shortest to longest in the same snapshot. Najaf's nearest-coordinate gap sits in the second quarter of atlas distances. This pattern can reveal whether other catalog references are geographically close, but it cannot establish whether a border crossing is possible or practical, or whether rail, road, fare, or journey-time connections exist. Read as one record signature, GeoNames 98860, the coordinate pair 32.0259 / 44.3463, country rank 11 of 11, and neighbor GeoNames 94824 at 72.23 km bind Najaf to a reproducible comparison. That combined key distinguishes the row; it is not a recommendation or evidence of a physical connection.
Najaf's reference point is 32.0259° north and 44.3463° east. The IANA identifier Asia/Baghdad is shared by 11 city rows in this catalog, while the GeoNames class PPLA is shared by 429 rows. Najaf's row carries both second- and first-order administrative labels. Najaf's point falls in the middle-latitude coordinate band used by this atlas's row checks. Najaf's time-zone field defines the narrower catalog cohort; its place class is shared more broadly. GeoNames supplies no elevation for Najaf, so the profile preserves that missing value instead of guessing terrain. Together these fields form a reproducible identity check for this page, not a claim about walkability, climate or accessibility.
03Nearby atlas references
Najaf's closest other entries in this atlas are Karbala (72.23 km), Abū Ghurayb (143.096 km), Baghdad (146.271 km).
04Verify before you book
Before visiting Najaf, confirm changing decisions with current first-party sources:
Read how City Atlas Club verifies changing travel facts →05Sources and freshness
GeoNames updated the row 2024-09-05; the atlas checked the dataset 2026-08-04. Available Wikidata fields were verified in the same run.
GeoNames data: CC BY 4.0. Wikidata labels and descriptions: CC0 1.0.