The Kurdish Population by the Kurdish Institute of Paris, 2017 estimate. The Kurdish population is estimated at 15–20 million in Turkey, 10–12 million in Iran, 8–8.5 million in Iraq, 3–3.6 million in Syria, 1.2–1.5 million in the European diaspora, and 400k–500k in the former USSR—for a total of 36.4 million to 45.6 million globally.