Guide to Iceland's Population
People often laugh at how small the Icelandic population is - but the Icelandic population is rapidly growing.
How Many People Live in Iceland?
At the time of writing (at 3pm on the 31st of December 2016) the human population of Iceland is only a mere 332,992 people. Just under 333,000 people. That doesn't sound like a lot. In fact, Guide to Iceland's facebook page has just outnumbered the Icelandic population in facebook likes, with 333,117 likes as of now - not a bad way to end the year! :)
But although 332,992 people doesn't sound like much in population terms, Iceland's population is on a steady rise, both due to birth rates as well as immigration.
Actually, most immigrants are puffins, 8-10 million puffins immigrate to Iceland each year, and then emigrate again in winter. Most human immigrants come from Poland, and immigrants make up about 10% of the human population in Iceland.
Fast Growth of People in Iceland
I remember growing up and telling people that about 280 thousand people lived in Iceland in my teens. Fast-forward 15 years and it's grown by more than 50 thousand people. The population in Iceland in the year 2000 was 281,205 people, thereof 109 thousand people living in Reykjavík. The population in Reykjavík has actually only risen to about 120 thousand at the same time, so the Icelandic countryside is rising more in population than the capital city. However, the capital region with all its neighbouring towns and suburbs has more than 200 thousand people.
When I was born, in 1984, the Icelandic population was around 239 thousand people - so in my lifetime (at the young age of 32 years) its risen by almost 100 thousand people - or more than a third of the entire population back in 1984.
Most Populated Towns in Iceland
After Reykjavík, the 10 most densely populated towns are:
Kópavogur (vicinity of Reykjavík)
Hafnarfjörður (also Reykjavík's vicinity)
Akureyri (north Iceland)
Garðabær (Reykjavík suburb)
Mosfellsbær (on Reykjavík's outskirts)
Selfoss (south Iceland)
Akranes (west Iceland)
Sauðárkrókur (north Iceland)
Ísafjörður (capital of the Westfjords)
Borgarnes (west Iceland).
Reykjavík city itself was only founded in 1786 as an official trading town, although it was believed to be the location of the first permanent settlement in Iceland, when Ingólfur Arnarson arrived to Iceland in 874. However, there was no urban settlement in Reykjavík until the 19th century, when the town started growing rapidly and blossomed into the city it is today. Reykjavík is constantly growing and spreading out further.
So it will be interesting to see what the next few years have in store for Iceland and its population, I predict that Iceland's population will rise to half a million in less than 20 years.
Guide to Iceland's Facebook Followers Outnumber Iceland's Population
However, Guide to Iceland aren't the only ones to outnumber the Icelandic population. Icelandic animals also greatly outnumber the human population as there are close to a million sheep in Iceland - and as mentioned before there are about 10 million puffins living in Iceland each summer. On the other hand there are only about 80 thousand horses living in Iceland (but additional 100 thousand Icelandic horses abroad).
Iceland is 103,000 km2, so each square km is shared by 3 people, 8 sheep, a 100 puffins - but zero ants! So with the increased tourism (more than a million visitors each year now) there are still more sheep in the country at any given time than people. And a lot more puffins (in summertime, the puffins go out to sea during winter).
In 2017, it's predicted that up to 2 million tourists will visit Iceland, so although the resident population is small, you'll feel like it's a lot larger with all those extra people!
So I suppose the next goal for Guide to Iceland is to outnumber the Icelandic sheep when it comes to 'likes' on social media... we won't even try to compete with the puffins!
기타 흥미로운 블로그
요쿨살론부터 비크까지, 꽃보다 청춘 5화
드디어 하늘씨과 쓰리스톤즈가 합류했는데요! 설원을 달리는 모습에 저도 아이슬란드가 엄청 그리워졌답니다. 빙하와 빛나는 요쿨살론 첫번째로 향한 요쿨살론(Jokulsarlon)은 아이슬란드의 대표적인 명소 중 하나랍니다. 영어로 Glacier lagoon 이라고도 하는데요. 방송에 나온 것처럼 눈 앞에 보이는 빙하는 빙하수가 흘러서 녹았다 얼었다를더 보기스코가포스 폭포부터 오로라까지, 꽃보다청춘 4화를 따라서
여행 5일째, 포스톤즈가 처음으로 향한 곳은 아이슬란드 남부에 있는 스코가포스 폭포(skogasfoss)입니다. 아이슬란드 남부의 대표적인 폭포 중 하나에요. 방송에서는 들르지 않았지만 스코가포스 거의 바로 옆에 위치한 셀리야란드스포스(seljalandsfoss) 폭포와 함께 같이 들르곤 한답니다. 스코가포스 폭포는 폭포의 물줄기 끝까지 올라갈 수 있단더 보기꽃청춘을 따라서
요즘 인기리에 방영되고 있는 꽃보다 청춘 아이슬란드편! 저도 매주 빼놓지 않고 시청하고 있습니다. 많은 분들께서 포스톤즈의 발랄한 매력과 아이슬란드의 놀라운 경치에 빠져드셨을 것 같습니다! 이번에는 꽃보다 청춘을 따라서 아이슬란드를 한번 가보도록 해요! 사실 아이슬란드가 한국에서 그렇게 가기 쉬운 나라는 아닙니다. 거리도 멀고 항공권도 비싸고! 우더 보기
아이슬란드 최대의 여행 마켓플레이스를 전화에 다운로드하여 전체 여행을 한 곳에서 관리하세요
전화 카메라로 이 QR 코드를 스캔하고 표시되는 링크를 누르면 아이슬란드 최대의 여행 마켓플레이스를 주머니에 넣을 수 있답니다. 다운로드 링크가 포함된 SMS 또는 이메일을 받으려면 전화번호 또는 이메일 주소를 추가하세요.