Country Sheet : Iceland

Information file

Last Update on 9th July 2025

ICELAND

PDF

In English - version of 9th July 2025

Geography

Area : : 103,000 km²

Coastline : 4,970 km

Capital : Reykjavik

Official language : Icelandic

Source : The CIA World Factbook

Flag

Population

Population : 364,036 inhabitants (2024)

Crude natural change rate : 4.5‰ (2023)

Population repartition: 19.8% under 15 years old, 17.1% over 65 years old (2024 est.)

Foreign residents: EU nationals 11%, non-EU nationals 3% (2021)

Crude net migration rate: 2.5‰ (2024 est.)

First time asylum applicants: 4,155 applicants (2023)

Life expectancy: men 81.8 years, women 86.3 years (2024 est.)

Religions: Lutheran Church of Iceland 67.2%, Roman Catholic Church 3.9%, Reykjavik Free Church 2.8%, Hafnarfjorour Free Church 2%, Asatru Association 1.2%, Independent Congregation 0.9%, other religions 0.4%, no religion 6.7%, unspecified 11.3%

Source : Eurostat, The World Factbook

Economy

Currency: Icelandic Crown (ISK) (exchange rate in July 2025: 1 € = ISK 143.63)

GDP: € 30,918.6 million (2024)

GDP per capita (PPS): € 59,580 (2024 est.)

GDP growth : 2.6% (2025)

Inflation: 3.8% (May 2025)

Public debt: 59.1% of GDP (December 2024)

Unemployment: 3.3% (April 2025)

Stock of foreign direct investment from the entire world: 33.6% of GDP (2023)

Performance sectors: fishing, aquaculture, geothermal energy, aluminium industry

Budget balance: -3.6% of GDP (Q4 2024)

Source : Eurostat, OECD

Political system

Constitutional republic

Head of State President Halla Tómasdóttir was elected by direct universal suffrage on June 1rst 2024 for four years. The incumbent president, Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson, did not seek reelection.

Head of government: Kristrun Frostadottir has been in office since 21st December 2024. She is a member of the Social Democratic Alliance (Samfylkingin) and formed a coalition with the Reform Party (Vioreisn) and the People’s Party (Flokkur fólksins) following the early parliamentary elections of Novemeber 2024.

Monocameral parliamentary system The Parliament (Alting) comprises 63 members elected for four years.

Political representation

Parliament composition (on November 30th 2024)

15 seats Social Democratic Alliance (Samfylkingin)
14 seats Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkur)
10 seats Reform Party (Vioreisn)
10 seats People’s Party (Flokkur fólksins)
8 seats Centre Party (Miðflokkurinn)
5 seats Progressive Party (Framsóknarflokkurinn)
MinoritypartiessuschasthePirate Party, the Left-Green Movement, ... did not win any seats in this election.

On June 17th 2010 the European Council decided to open accession negotiations with Iceland. 27 of the negotiating chapters have been opened, of which 11 provisionally closed. In March 2015 Iceland’s government requested that «Iceland should not be regarded as a candidate country for EU membership». The position of the 2017 government remains also against the integration of Iceland in the EU.
Iceland is highly integrated with the EU through its membership of the European Economic Area (EEA), the Schengen Area and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). It is also a signatory of the Dublin regulation on asylum and a partner in the EU’s Northern Dimension policy to promote cooperation in Northern Europe.