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Iceland is an island country in the northern Atlantic Ocean. It is the westernmost European country and its capital is the most northern capital in the world.

Much of Iceland is covered by glaciers and the coast is marked with lots of bays and fjords. Iceland lies on a fault line between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates. (You can see about these in our video at the start of this whole section). As a result Iceland has many volcanoes which are active. In 2011 a large volcano erupted and the ash cloud caused problems for aeroplanes flying in and around Europe.

The land is generally flat with some mountain peaks.

The geographical coordinates for the centre of Iceland, also known as lines of latitude and longitude, are:-
Latitude - 65 00N
Longitude - 18 00W

The capital of Iceland is Reykjavik.

Iceland is a parliamentary republic with a president as head of state and a prime minister as head of the government.

In elections everyone over the age of 18 can vote.

The currency in Iceland is the Icelandic Krona. Iceland began formal talks to join the European Union in 2010 and these are still going on.

Icelandic is the official language.

Check the weather in Reykjavik now.

This is the time in Reykjavik now

The Icelandic flag is a red cross on a larger white cross, all on a blue background. The two crosses are moved to the left side of the flag nearest the flagpole. The colours represent the blue of the ocean which surrounds Iceland, the white of the snow which covers the land and the red of volcanic fires which can be seen on the island.

Hear the National Anthem



These are the anthem words

The words ×

These are the words to the Icelandic National Anthem called Song of Priase. It was adopted in 1918. This is a translation of the words.

If anthem fails to play click here  

Our country’s God! Our country’s God!
We worship Thy name in its wonder sublime.
The suns of the heavens are set in thy crown
By thy legions, the ages of time!
With Thee is each day as a thousand years,
Each thousand of years, but a day.
Eternity’s flow’r, with its homage of tears,
That reverently passes away.
Iceland’s thousand years!
Iceland’s thousand years!
Eternity’s flow’r, with its homage of tears,
That reverently passes away.

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The Land
The People
Life and Death
Health, Energy and the Environment
Education and Work
Travel, Communication and the Media

The total land area of Iceland is 100,350 sq kms which is the 15th largest in Europe.

Iceland has lakes, rivers and canals which total 2,750 sq kms.

Iceland is an island with no boundaries with other countries.

Iceland has a coastline of 4,970 kms which is the 7th longest in Europe.

The highest point in Iceland is Hvannadalshnukur at 2,110 metres.

The pie chart below shows how the land is split between agricultural land (crops and pastures), forests and other, which can be towns, villages, desert or frozen waste called tundra.

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The total population of Iceland is 335,878 people, making it the 39th largest country in Europe by population.

Of this number 167,561 are females and 168,317 are males.

A person from Iceland is called an Icelander.

To be a citizen of Iceland, one of your parents must be a citizen of Iceland. It is not sufficient to be born in Iceland. You have to live in Iceland for 3-7 years before you can begin to apply for citizenship.

The largest five cities in Iceland, by population are:-

• Reykjavik 118,918 people
• Kopavoqur 31,719
• Hafnarfjordur 26,808
• Akurevri 17,693
• Garoabaer 11,421

For each country we will give you a diagram showing the population density. This is the average number of people for each square kilometre. Each little Owlbut is 1 person and the big yellow rectangle is 1 sq km. After a while you can compare countries and see which ones are the most crowded. Remember it is only an average as more people live closer together in towns and cities than in villages out in the country.



94.1% of the people live in cities or towns.

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The birth rate in Iceland is 13.8 births per 1,000 of population

The death rate in Iceland is 6.3 deaths per 1,000 people.

Check this against the birth rate. If the death rate is higher than the birth rate then the population will decrease unless immigrants arrive in the country.

There are 1.9 deaths of girls under 1 year per 1,000 of births and 2.3 deaths of boys.

The median age for females is 36.9 and for males is 35.7. The median age is that age which divides the population exactly in half so there are the same number of people above the median age as below it.

The average age of a woman when she has her first child is 31.2.

The elderly dependency ratio is 20.8. This is the number of elderly people (ages 65+) per 100 people of working age (ages 15-64).

The potential support ratio is 4.8. This is the number of working-age people (ages 15-64) per one elderly person (ages 65+). As a population ages, the potential support ratio tends to fall, meaning there are fewer potential workers to support the elderly.

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Iceland spends 8.9% of its total income on health care.

There are 3.48 doctors per 1,000 people.

There are 3.2 hospital beds per 1,000 people.

21.9% of the population are estimated as obese.

100% of Icelanders have drinking water that is either piped into their home or they have access to a public tap, a protected borehole, well, spring or protected rainwater collection facility.

98.7% of the urban population and 100% of the rural population have access to a flushing toilet that is connected to a sewer. a pit latrine (that is a permanent hole in the ground that is looked after) or a composting toilet.

Iceland releases 3.3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels in the process of producing and consuming energy. This puts it as the 38th highest in Europe.

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Iceland spends 7.8% of its total income on education.

Children usually start school at age 6 in Iceland. Compulsory education is for ten years until age 16 and upper secondary education can continue to 20. This may be followed by further education at a university or college.

Generally the school year consists of 3 terms and starts toward the end of August and finishes at the beginning of June. There is usually a 2 week break at Christmas and a long weekend at Easter.

We have no figures for the number of people who are able to read and write by the age of 15.

6.5% of all people aged between 16 and 24 are not in work. Among females 6.3% are unemployed while with males 6.7% can't find work.

The total number of people available for work in Iceland is 195,000.

They work in the following sectors.

• Agriculture includes farming, fishing and forestry work
• Industry includes mining, manufacturing, construction and energy workers
• Services is everything else

2.7% of the workforce are unemployed.

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There are 7 paved airports in Iceland, which is the 32nd highest number in Europe.


There are no railways in Iceland.


There are 4,783 kilometres of roads in Iceland, which means Iceland is in 36th place for the most kilometres of roads in Europe.

There are 3 major national newspapers in Iceland.

There are 384,000 mobile phone users.

51% of the people have a fixed landline.



326,000 people have access to the internet at home via any device (computer or mobile).

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