Demographics of Iceland

A graph showing the population of Iceland from 1703–2017, using official data from Statistics Iceland.

The population of Iceland since settlement times has probably wavered between about 30,000 and 80,000. Official statistics begin in 1703, since when the population of Iceland has grown from 50,358 to 364,134 in January 2020.[3]

Immigration

There was little immigration to Iceland prior to the 1990s, and during that period was mostly from other Scandinavian countries: around 1% of the population of Iceland in 1900 was of Danish heritage (either born in Denmark or to Danish parents).[8] In the mid-1990s, 95% of Icelanders had parents of Icelandic origin, and 2% of Icelandic inhabitants were first-generation immigrants (born abroad with both parents foreign-born and all grandparents foreign-born).[9][10]

Immigration to Iceland rose rapidly in the late twentieth century, encouraged by Iceland's accession to the European Economic Area in 1994, its entry into the Schengen Agreement in 2001, and the country's early twenty-first century economic boom. Iceland's largest ethnic minority comprises Polish immigrants in Iceland. Immigration has also brought significant new ethno-religious groups such as Jewish people, and new minority religions, including Islam. In 2017, 10.6% of the population were first-generation immigrants.[10]

Research on the experience of immigrants to Iceland is in its early days.[11][12] There is some evidence that racism is not as acute in Iceland as in neighbouring countries.[13][14][15] But, while it is popularly believed in Iceland that racism does not exist there,[16] there is evidence that in some respects immigrant populations experience prejudice and inequalities.[17] For example, Iceland has a higher dropout rate from upper secondary school among young immigrants than the EEA average.[18]

Foreign-born communities of over 300[2]

Country	2010	2019
Poland	10,088	19,210
Denmark	3,236	3,891
Lithuania	1,442	2,906
United States	1,849	2,386
Sweden	1,846	2,161
Philippines	1,407	2,094
Germany	1,697	1,969
Latvia	641	1,762
United Kingdom	1,095	1,702
Romania	205	1,536
Thailand	1,062	1,375
Norway	987	1,275
Portugal	607	993
Spain	288	909
Vietnam	479	840
France	444	835
Czech Republic	152	744
China	481	686
Croatia	148	657
Italy	217	482
Slovakia	228	475
Bulgaria	135	473
Serbia	312	468
Hungary	153	464
Russia	294	452
Ukraine	206	402
Netherlands	298	375
India	274	357
Canada	229	337
Other	4,284	9,185
Total immigrant population	35,117	61,401

Due to a shortage of labor,[19] immigration to Iceland will most likely increase in the future.[20] Estimates show that the number of immigrants could be as high as 15% of the total population by 2030.[20]

Most Icelandic surnames are based on patronymy, or the adoption of the father's first given name, followed by "son" or "daughter". For example, Magnús and Anna, children of a man named Pétur Jónsson, would have the full name Magnús Pétursson and Anna Pétursdóttir, respectively. Magnús's daughter Sigríður Ásta would be Sigríður Ásta Magnúsdóttir, and would remain so for the rest of her life regardless of marriage. An Icelandic patronymic is essentially only a designation of fatherhood, and is therefore redundant in Icelandic social life except to differentiate people of the same first name – the phone directory, for example, lists people by their given name first, patronymic second. Thus it has little in common with traditional surnames except for its position after the given name. It is legally possible in Iceland to rework the patronymic into a matronymic, replacing the father's name with the mother's. Use of the patronymic system is required by law, except for the descendants of those who had acquired family names before 1913 (about 10% of the population). One notable Icelander who has an inherited family name is football star Eiður Smári Guðjohnsen.

According to University of Iceland economists Davíd F. Björnsson and Gylfi Zoega, "The policies of the colonial masters in Copenhagen delayed urbanisation. The Danish king maintained a monopoly in trade with Iceland from 1602 until 1855, which made the price of fish artificially low – the price of fish was higher in Britain – and artificially raised the price of agricultural products. Instead, Denmark bought the fish caught from Iceland at below world market prices. Although the trade monopoly ended in 1787, Icelanders could not trade freely with other countries until 1855. Following trade liberalisation, there was a substantial increase in fish exports to Britain, which led to an increase in the number of sailing ships used in fishing, introduced for the first time in 1780. The growth of the fishing industry then created demand for capital, and in 1885 Parliament created the first state bank (Landsbanki). In 1905 came the first motorised fishing vessel, which marked an important step in the development of a specialised fishing industry in Iceland. Iceland exported fresh fish to Britain and salted cod to southern Europe, with Portugal an important export market. Fishing replaced agriculture as the country’s main industry. These developments set the stage for the urbanisation that was to follow in the twentieth century."[21]

A 2017 study looking at individuals going to the capital area for higher education found that "Only about one in three [University of Iceland] students from regions beyond commuting distance return after graduation, while about half remain in the capital area and others mostly emigrate."[22]

In 2016, 71.6% of the population belonged to the state church (the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland), approximately 5% in free churches, 3.7% to the Roman Catholic Church, approximately 1% to the Ásatrúarfélagið (a legally recognized revival of the pre-Christian religion of Iceland), approximately 1% to Zuism, 8% in unrecognized or unspecified religious groups, and 19% do not belong to any religious group.[23]

All living Icelanders, as well as all foreign citizens with permanent residence in Iceland, have a personal identification number (kennitala) identifying them in the National Registry. This number is composed of 10 digits, whereof the first six are made up of the individual's birth date in the format DDMMYY. The next two digits are chosen at random when the kennitala is allocated, the 9th digit is a check digit, and the last digit indicates the period of one hundred years in which the individual was born (for instance, '9' for the period 1900–1999). An example would be 120192-3389. While similar, all-inclusive personal registries exist in other countries, the use of the national registry is unusually extensive in Iceland. It is worth noting that the completeness of the National Registry eliminates any need for census to be performed.

Data according to Statistics Iceland, which collects the official statistics for Iceland.[24]

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.

Age structure

0–14 years: 20.4% (male 35,418/female 33,887)
15–24 years: 13.5% (male 23,190/female 22,659)
25–54 years: 39.88% (male 68,579/female 66,899)
55–64: 11.81% (male 20,119/female 20,007)
65 years and over: 14.42% (male 22,963/female 26,053) (2017 est.)

Sex ratio

at birth: 1.05 males: 1 female
under 15 years: 1.05 males: 1 female

15–24 years: 1.03 males: 1 female

25–54 years: 1.02 males: 1 female
55–64 years: 1.01 males: 1 female
65 years and over: 0.88 males: 1 female
total population: 1.01 male: 1 female (2016 est.)

Maternal mortality rate

3 deaths/100,000 live births (2015 est.)

Infant mortality rate

2.1 deaths/1,000 live births (2016 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 83.0 years
male: 80.9 years
female: 85.3 years (2016 est.)

Health expenditures

8.9% of GDP (2014)

Physicians density

3.79 physicians/1,000 population (2015)

Obesity – adult prevalence rate

23.9% (2014)

Education expenditures

7.8% of GDP (2013)

Mother's mean age at first birth

27.4 (2015 est.)

Citizenship of Iceland residents.

  3 000 +

  1 500-3 000

  750-1 500

  500-750

Nationality

noun: Icelander(s)
adjective: Icelandic

Ethnic groups

94% Icelandic, 6% other

Religions

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland (official) 69.9%, Roman Catholic 3.8%, Reykjavik Free Church 2.9%, Hafnarfjörður Free Church 2%, Ásatrú Association 1.1%, The Independent Congregation 1%, other religions 4% (includes Zuist and Pentecostal), none 6.1%, other or unspecified 9.2% (2017 est.)

Languages

Icelandic (English and a second Nordic language, Danish by default, are also a part of the Icelandic compulsory education)[28]

• "Hagstofa Íslands" [Statistics Iceland]. statice.is – the national statistical institute of Iceland
• "ICELAND". The World Factbook.
• A 2012 report by the Ministry of Welfare on migration to and from Iceland 1961–2011.