Room With A View

Important Facts About Iceland
By Guy Gutraiman

Hverir area in Iceland

Iceland is a volcanic island on the mid-Atlantic Ridge.

The centre of the country is approximately at 65° N and 18° W. The closest countries are Greenland, 287 km, the Faroe Islands, 420 km, and Scotland, 798 km. Iceland’s area is 102,700 km2 and its coastline 6300 km, and 37% of the country is over 600 m above sea level. Only 2% of the country is arable land and two-thirds of it is sparsely vegetated desert or glaciers.

Glaciers cover about 11% of the country’s surface, and the biggest of them is Vatnajokull, which is 8300 km2. Also, the highest mountain in the country is there, Hvannadalshnjukur 2119 m. Iceland was part of the Danish empire until 1918 but obtained full independence in 1944. Every four years in general elections representatives are elected to Althingi, which has one chamber, and the President is also nationally elected.

The country is divided into five electoral districts, 20 administrative districts and 101 municipalities. The population is 319,000 and two-thirds of the inhabitants live in the capital city area, about 40% of these in the capital city Reykjavík. Most of the larger towns are near the capital city: Kopavogur, Hafnarfjordur, Mosfellsbaer and Gardabaer, but of the other larger towns the largest are Akureyri in North Iceland and Reykjanesbaer in the southwest corner.

About 70% of the population work in the service sector, about 25% in industry and only 5% in agriculture and fisheries, while about 60% of the total export value is from seafood products and about 36% from the industry.

Guy Gutraiman is a resident of Iceland and the editor of Iceland Portal, a complete travel guide to Iceland. To learn more facts about Iceland visit our Iceland Travel Information website.

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