Iceland

Geography

Iceland is an island state in the North Sea between Europe and Greenland. The land has a total area of 103,000 km² (39,768 mi²) and a total coastline of 4,970 km (3,088.2 mi). This land area is approximately 98% of the area of Kentucky. Iceland is thus the 16th biggest country in Europe and in terms of area ranked 108th worldwide. With 3.6 inhabitants per km² it is one of the most sparsely populated countries on earth. An exceptionally high proportion of residents (94%) belongs to the urban population. More than every third inhabitant lives in Reykjavík.

Iceland lies at an average elevation of 557 meters above sea level. The highest mountain peak (Hvannadalshnúkur) is at 2,119 meters. The island group consists of about 40 islands. Iceland has no direct neighbors. The distance between New York City and the Capital Reykjavík is about 4,210 km (2,616 mi).

The climate in Iceland

The country is much further away from the equator than Central Europe. This means that the winter days in Iceland are much darker, colder and also shorter. The country is under cold polar climate. Depending on the season, the average daytime temperatures range between 4 and 15 degrees. In some parts of the country, the temperature rises to 16 °C. In the colder months, and depending in the region, the temperature drops to -1 °C in a month's average.

• Detailed climate data for Iceland and 6 individual regions
• Volcanoes

Languages

Mother tongue	Distribution
Icelandic	95.7 %
other	4.3 %

Religions

Religion	Distribution
Lutherans	73.8%
Reykjavik Free Church	2.9%
Hafnarfjorour Free Church	2.0%
Congregationalists	1.0%
Roman Catholics	3.6%
nondenominational	5.6%
other	11.1%

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Economy

GDP:	25.60 bn $
Exportations:	9,703.0 M $
Importations:	10,246.3 M $
› Tourism receipts:	3.13 bn $
› Debt rate:	74.60 %
› Unemployment rate:	3.8 %
› Inflation rate:	8.31 %
› Corruption index:	74 (good)
› Energy consumption:	17.9 bn kWh

With a Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.959, Iceland counts as one of the high developed economies by UN definition. The IMF also shares this classification.

Considering the purchasing power parity, Iceland is among the 20 richest countries in the world and, with an average annual income of 63,460 USD is one of the high-income countries.

Land use

1% Urban areas:	1,024 km²
19% Agricultural areas:	19,230 km²
1% Forest:	525 km²
3% Water areas:	2,750 km²
80% Others:	82,221 km²

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Transport

Roadways:	12,898 km
Commercial harbors:	41
› Airports:	5