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Demographics of Iceland

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This article is about the demographic features of the population of Iceland, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

Citizenship of Iceland residents.

Most Icelanders are descendants of Norwegian settlers and Celts from Ireland and Scotland who were brought over as slaves during the age of settlement. Recent DNA analysis suggests that around 66 percent of the male settler-era population was of Norse ancestry, whereas the female population was 60 percent Celtic.[1] The Icelandic population today is remarkably homogeneous. According to Icelandic government statistics, 99% of the nation's inhabitants live in urban areas (localities with populations greater than 200) and 60% live in the greater Reykjavík Area. Of the North Germanic languages, the Icelandic language is closest to the Old Norse language and has remained relatively unchanged since the 12th century. Because of its small size and relative homogeneity, Iceland holds all the characteristics of a very close-knit society.

About 84% of the population belong to the state church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, or other Lutheran Churches. However, Iceland has complete religious liberty, and other Protestant and Roman Catholic congregations are present (about 3.5%), along with small communities of major world religions. The most notable new religious community in Iceland, and in 2003 the fastest-growing one, is the Ásatrúarfélagið, a legally recognized revival of the pre-Christian religion of Iceland.

Most Icelandic surnames are based on patronymy, or the adoption of the father's first given name, followed by "son" or "daughter". For example, Magnús and Anna, children of a man named Pétur Jónsson, would have the full name Magnús Pétursson and Anna Pétursdóttir, respectively. Magnús's daughter Sigríður Ásta would be Sigríður Ásta Magnúsdóttir, and would remain so for the rest of her life regardless of marriage. An Icelandic patronymic is essentially only a designation of fatherhood, and is therefore redundant in Icelandic social life except to differentiate people of the same first name — the phone directory, for example, lists people by their given name first, patronymic second. Thus it has little in common with traditional surnames except for its position after the given name. It is legally possible in Iceland to rework the patronymic into a matronymic, replacing the father's name with the mother's. Use of the patronymic system is required by law, except for the descendants of those who had acquired family names before 1913 (about 10% of the population). One notable Icelander who has an inherited family name is football star Eiður Smári Guðjohnsen.

See also: Icelandic naming conventions

Icelandic National Registry

Main article: Kennitala

All living Icelanders, as well as all foreign citizens with permanent residence in Iceland, have a personal identification number (kennitala) identifying them in the National Registry. This number is composed of 10 digits, whereof the first six are made up of the individual's birth date in the format DDMMYY. The next two digits are chosen at random when the kennitala is allocated, the 9th digit is a check digit, and the last digit indicates the period of one hundred years in which the individual was born (for instance, '9' for the period 1900–1999). An example would be 120192-3389. While similar, all-inclusive personal registries exist in other countries, the use of the national registry is unusually extensive in Iceland. For example, video rentals register their customers using the registry identification numbers. It is worth noting that the completeness of the National Registry eliminates any need for census to be performed.

Summary of vital statistics since 1900 [2]

Average population (x 1000) Live births Deaths Natural change Crude birth rate (per 1000) Crude death rate (per 1000) Natural change (per 1000) Fertility rates
1900 78 2 237 1 545 692 28.6 19.8 8.9
1901 78 2 179 1 155 1 024 27.8 14.7 13.1
1902 79 2 220 1 262 958 28.1 16.0 12.1
1903 79 2 244 1 324 920 28.3 16.7 11.6
1904 80 2 293 1 242 1 051 28.7 15.5 13.1
1905 81 2 271 1 435 836 28.1 17.8 10.4
1906 82 2 346 1 193 1 153 28.8 14.6 14.1
1907 83 2 304 1 396 908 27.9 16.9 11.0
1908 83 2 270 1 594 676 27.3 19.1 8.1
1909 84 2 283 1 263 1 020 27.2 15.0 12.1
1910 85 2 171 1 304 867 25.6 15.4 10.2
1911 85 2 205 1 152 1 053 25.8 13.5 12.3
1912 86 2 234 1 171 1 063 26.0 13.6 12.4
1913 87 2 216 1 060 1 156 25.6 12.2 13.3
1914 88 2 338 1 428 910 26.7 16.3 10.4
1915 89 2 446 1 376 1 070 27.6 15.5 12.1
1916 89 2 377 1 322 1 055 26.6 14.8 11.8
1917 91 2 427 1 111 1 316 26.8 12.3 14.5
1918 92 2 441 1 518 923 26.6 16.6 10.1
1919 92 2 342 1 169 1 173 25.4 12.7 12.7
1920 94 2 627 1 360 1 267 28.1 14.5 13.5
1921 95 2 601 1 478 1 123 27.4 15.6 11.8
1922 96 2 546 1 280 1 266 26.6 13.4 13.2
1923 97 2 612 1 287 1 325 26.9 13.3 13.7
1924 98 2 525 1 462 1 063 25.7 14.9 10.8
1925 99 2 554 1 229 1 325 25.7 12.4 13.3
1926 101 2 676 1 121 1 555 26.5 11.1 15.4
1927 103 2 642 1 282 1 360 25.8 12.5 13.3
1928 104 2 542 1 124 1 418 24.4 10.8 13.6
1929 106 2 644 1 237 1 407 25.0 11.7 13.3
1930 107 2 808 1 248 1 560 26.1 11.6 14.5
1931 109 2 804 1 277 1 527 25.7 11.7 14.0
1932 111 2 696 1 191 1 505 24.4 10.8 13.6
1933 112 2 531 1 159 1 372 22.5 10.3 12.2
1934 114 2 597 1 181 1 416 22.8 10.4 12.4
1935 115 2 551 1 402 1 149 22.1 12.2 10.0
1936 116 2 557 1 253 1 304 22.0 10.8 11.2
1937 117 2 397 1 317 1 080 20.4 11.2 9.2
1938 118 2 374 1 207 1 167 20.1 10.2 9.9
1939 120 2 363 1 160 1 203 19.8 9.7 10.1
1940 121 2 480 1 200 1 280 20.5 9.9 10.6
1941 122 2 634 1 352 1 282 21.6 11.1 10.5
1942 123 3 005 1 293 1 712 24.4 10.5 13.9
1943 125 3 173 1 268 1 905 25.4 10.1 15.2
1944 127 3 213 1 218 1 995 25.3 9.6 15.7
1945 129 3 434 1 179 2 255 26.6 9.1 17.5
1946 132 3 434 1 121 2 313 26.1 8.5 17.6
1947 134 3 703 1 162 2 541 27.6 8.6 18.9
1948 137 3 821 1 114 2 707 27.8 8.1 19.7
1949 140 3 884 1 106 2 778 27.8 7.9 19.9
1950 143 4 093 1 122 2 971 28.7 7.9 20.8 3,86
1951 145 3 999 1 145 2 854 27.5 7.9 19.6 3,72
1952 148 4 075 1 082 2 993 27.5 7.3 20.2 3,79
1953 151 4 254 1 118 3 136 28.1 7.4 20.7 3,94
1954 154 4 281 1 064 3 217 27.7 6.9 20.8 3,91
1955 158 4 505 1 099 3 406 28.5 7.0 21.6 4,07
1956 161 4 603 1 153 3 450 28.5 7.1 21.4 4,14
1957 165 4 725 1 157 3 568 28.6 7.0 21.6 4,20
1958 168 4 641 1 165 3 476 27.5 6.9 20.6 4,09
1959 172 4 837 1 242 3 595 28.1 7.2 20.9 4,24
1960 176 4 916 1 167 3 749 28.0 6.6 21.3 4,29
1961 179 4 563 1 248 3 315 25.5 7.0 18.5 3,88
1962 182 4 711 1 237 3 474 25.9 6.8 19.1 3,98
1963 186 4 820 1 327 3 493 26.0 7.2 18.8 4,02
1964 189 4 787 1 315 3 472 25.3 7.0 18.4 3,87
1965 192 4 721 1 291 3 430 24.6 6.7 17.8 3,73
1966 196 4 692 1 391 3 301 24.0 7.1 16.9 3,60
1967 199 4 404 1 385 3 019 22.2 7.0 15.2 3,28
1968 201 4 227 1 390 2 837 21.0 6.9 14.1 3,06
1969 203 4 218 1 451 2 767 20.8 7.2 13.6 2,99
1970 204 4 023 1 457 2 566 19.7 7.1 12.6 2,79
1971 206 4 277 1 501 2 776 20.8 7.3 13.5 2,86
1972 209 4 676 1 447 3 229 22.3 6.9 15.4 3,09
1973 212 4 598 1 475 3 123 21.7 6.9 14.7 2,95
1974 215 4 276 1 495 2 781 19.9 6.9 12.9 2,66
1975 218 4 384 1 412 2 972 20.1 6.5 13.6 2,71
1976 220 4 291 1 343 2 948 19.5 6.1 13.4 2,53
1977 222 3 996 1 435 2 561 18.0 6.5 11.5 2,32
1978 224 4 162 1 421 2 741 18.6 6.4 12.3 2,36
1979 226 4 475 1 482 2 993 19.8 6.6 13.3 2,49
1980 228 4 528 1 538 2 990 19.8 6.7 13.1 2,49
1981 231 4 345 1 656 2 689 18.8 7.2 11.7 2,33
1982 234 4 337 1 583 2 754 18.5 6.8 11.8 2,26
1983 237 4 371 1 653 2 718 18.4 7.0 11.5 2,24
1984 240 4 113 1 584 2 529 17.2 6.6 10.6 2,08
1985 241 3 856 1 652 2 204 16.0 6.8 9.1 1,93
1986 243 3 881 1 598 2 283 16.0 6.6 9.4 1,91
1987 246 4 193 1 724 2 469 17.0 7.0 10.0 2,05
1988 250 4 673 1 818 2 855 18.7 7.3 11.4 2,20
1989 253 4 560 1 716 2 844 18.0 6.8 11.3 2,17
1990 255 4 768 1 704 3 064 18.7 6.7 12.0 2,31
1991 258 4 533 1 796 2 737 17.6 7.0 10.6 2,19
1992 261 4 609 1 719 2 890 17.7 6.6 11.1 2,21
1993 264 4 623 1 753 2 870 17.5 6.6 10.9 2,22
1994 266 4 442 1 717 2 725 16.7 6.5 10.2 2,14
1995 267 4 280 1 923 2 357 16.0 7.2 8.8 2,08
1996 269 4 329 1 879 2 450 16.1 7.0 9.1 2,13
1997 271 4 151 1 843 2 308 15.3 6.8 8.5 2,04
1998 274 4 178 1 821 2 357 15.2 6.6 8.6 2,04
1999 277 4 100 1 901 2 199 14.8 6.9 7.9 1,99
2000 281 4 315 1 823 2 492 15.3 6.5 8.9 2,06
2001 285 4 091 1 725 2 366 14.4 6.1 8.3 1,95
2002 288 4 049 1 821 2 228 14.1 6.3 7.7 1,94
2003 290 4 143 1 827 2 316 14.3 6.3 8.0 1,99
2004 292 4 234 1 824 2 410 14.5 6.2 8.3 2,04
2005 297 4 280 1 838 2 442 14.4 6.2 8.2 2,05
2006 304 4 415 1 903 2 512 14.5 6.3 8.3 2,07
2007 312 4 560 1 943 2 617 14.6 6.2 8.4 2,09
2008 314 4 835 2 186 2 244 14.2 7.0 6.2 2,14
2009 316 5 026 2 002 3 024 15.7 6.3 9.4 2,22
2010 319 4 907 2 020 2 887 15.5 6.4 9.1 2,20
2011 321 4 496 1 985 2 511 14.1 6.2 7.9 2,04

CIA World Factbook demographic statistics

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.

Population

309,605 (October 2007 estimate), of whom 195,301 (60%) live in the Reykjavík metropolitan area.

Age structure

0–14 years: 21.5% (male 32,818; female 31,614)
15–64 years: 67.5% (male 111,216; female 100,367)
65 years and over: 11.0% (male 15,589; female 18,001) (2007 est.)

Total: 309,605

Sex ratio

at birth: 1.04 males: 1 female
under 15 years: 1.03 males: 1 female
15–64 years: 1.03 males: 1 female
65 years and over: 0.83 males: 1 female
total population: 1 male: 1 female (2004 estimate)

Infant mortality rate

3.31 deaths: 1,000 live births (2004 estimate)

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 80.18 years
male: 78.18 years
female: 82.27 years (2004 estimate)

Total fertility rate

2.14 children born: 1 woman (2008 estimate)

Nationality

noun: Icelander(s)
adjective: Icelandic

Ethnic groups

93% Icelandic, 7.0% other

Religions

As of 2002: Lutheran 87.1%, Protestant 4.1%, Roman Catholic 1.7% and other 7.1% (Ásatrú is officially recognized with some 0.3% as of 2005)

Languages

Icelandic (English and a second Nordic language, Danish by default, are also a part of the Icelandic compulsory education)[1]

Literacy

definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99.9% (1997 est.)
male: NA%
female: NA%

See also

References

  1. ^ mtDNA and the Islands of the North Atlantic: Estimating the Proportions of Norse and Gaelic Ancestry, Agnar Helgason, Eileen Hickey, Sara Goodacre, Vidar Bosnes, Ka´ri Stefa´nsson, Ryk Ward, and Bryan Sykes, Am. J. Hum. Genet. 68:723–737, 2001, http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/AJHG/journal/issues/v68n3/002146/002146.web.pdf and mtDNA and the Origin of the Icelanders: Deciphering Signals of Recent Population History, Agnar Helgason, Sigrún Sigurðardóttir, Jeffrey R. Gulcher, Ryk Ward, and Kári Stefánsson, Am. J. Hum. Genet., 66:999-1016, 2000, http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/AJHG/journal/issues/v66n3/991226/991226.html
  2. ^ Statistics Iceland
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