Europe
To which language should you translate to localize in Iceland?
What the 150 top websites do
Of the top 150 website (Global by design ranking):
- 38/150 translate into Icelandic
- 30/150 translate into English
If you need others information, below you can find a selection of economic/social/cultural data
Overview
Language
Official language
Icelandic 93.2%
T-index
0.025%
T-Index ranks countries according to their potential for online sales.
Other languages
Polish, Lithuanian, English, German, Danish, Portuguese, Filipino, Thai and Latvian.
Most studied languages
English, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, French, German and Spanish.
Demography
Capital: ReykjavÃk
Currency: Icelandic króna
Population: 381,900
Population density: 4/km2
Economy
GDP: 27.84 billion USD (2022)
GDP per capita: 72,903 USD ‎(2022) ‎
Exports: $6.76 billion (2021)
Statistics
Internet users: 99% penetration, 370.4 thousand
Unemployment rate: 6% (2021)
Urbanisation: 94% (2022)
Conventions
Numbering system
Arabic numerals with comma as decimal separator
Date format: dd – mm – yyyy
Time: 24h time system
Country code: 00354
Language data sources: Worldatlas/Britannica//EF/Wikipedia; Demography data sources: IMF/Worldometers; Conventions data source: Wikipedia; Economy data sources: WTO/OEC/CIA/Esomar/Datareportal; Statistics data sources: Datareportal/WorldBank/UN/UNESCO/CEIC/IMF/Culturalatlas/Commisceoglobal
Facts and data
Economy
Imports
$7.73 billion (2021). Aluminium Oxide ($508M), Cars ($487M), Carbon-based Electronics ($452M), Refined Petroleum ($446M), and Packaged Medicaments ($216M), importing mostly from Norway ($858M), Denmark ($749M), Netherlands ($722M), Germany ($693M), and China ($537M).
Ease of doing business
It is very easy to conduct business (79 out of 100) ranked 16th out of 34 OECD high income countries, and ranked 26th out of 190 countries worldwide (2022, World Bank).
Main local online stores
Amazon, AliExpress, eBay, Elko and Ikea.
Economic freedom
‘Mostly free’ (rated 72.2 out of 100). Ranked 13th out of 44 European countries. Ranked 19th out of 186 countries worldwide (2022, Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal).
Exports
$6.76 billion (2021). Raw Aluminium ($2.5B), Fish Fillets ($1.06B), Non-fillet Fresh Fish ($449M), Non-fillet Frozen Fish ($439M), and Fish: dried, salted, smoked or in brine ($278M), exporting mostly to Netherlands ($1.65B), Spain ($704M), Germany ($661M), United Kingdom ($577M), and United States ($492M).
Financial inclusion factors (over 15 years of age)
• 100% have an account with a financial institution
• 74% have a credit card
Global Innovation Index
Ranked 12th out of 39 European countries, 20th out of 132 worldwide.
The Global Innovation Index captures the innovation
ecosystem performance of 132 economies and tracks the most recent global innovation trends.
Economy data sources: WTO/OEC/CIA/Esomar/Datareportal
Service Imports (2019)
Service Exports (2019)
Source: OEC
Historical Data Trade Imports
The following section uses historical trade data imports from partners of Iceland.
Historical Data Trade Exports
The following section uses historical trade data exports from partners of Iceland.
Source: OEC
The Top Export Opportunities for Iceland by Relatedness
Relatedness measures the distance between a country's current exports and each product by showing only products that Iceland is not specialized in.
Iceland's Most Complex Exports
The Product Complexity Index (PCI) measures the knowledge intensity of a product by considering the knowledge intensity of its exporters.
Source: OEC
Iceland's Most Specialized Products
Specialization is measured using Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA), an index that takes the ratio between Iceland observed and expected exports in each product.
Source: OEC
Market Growth Imports (2019)
This score represents the likelihood that the given country will start importing that product in the next few years. It forecasts the opening of a new specific market.
Market Growth Exports (2019)
This score represents the likelihood that the given country will start exporting that product in the next few years. It forecasts the opening of a new specific market.
Source: OEC
T-index
Reach most of the online purchasing power
T-Index ranks countries according to their potential for online sales. It estimates the market share of each country in relation to global e-commerce.
Try it nowMedia
Media language Icelandic, English
Information channels
National public radio and TV is provided by the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service (RUV), which is owned by the state. The RUV is tasked with promoting the Icelandic language and culture. It is funded from a licence fee and advertising revenue. Media ownership is highly concentrated. The 365 company runs the main private TV and radio stations and the highest-circulating newspaper, Frettabladid. The constitution guarantees “absolute” press freedom, but the situation for journalists has worsened in recent years because of poor relations between politicians and the media, says Reporters Without Borders. Legislation passed in 2010 aims to give more protection to journalists and whistleblowers than any other such law in the world. A 2019 study, based on OECD data, found that Iceland had the highest level of online news consumption, with about 93% of the population getting news updates online, rather than traditional media.
The press
Frettabladid – daily, distributed free-of-charge
Morgunbladid – morning daily
DV – evening daily
Vidskiptabladid – business
Baejarins besta – West Fjords local news
icelandreview.com– English-language site with news
Stundin – news site, known for investigative reporting
Kjarninn – website known for news analysis
Television
Icelandic National Broadcasting Service – operates public network Sjonvarpid
Stod 2 – main private station
Skjar einn – private
Radio
Icelandic National Broadcasting Service – public radio, operates two national networks and four regional stations
Bylgjan – main private station
Media data source: BBC
Internet Data
Internet users
99% penetration, 370.4 thousand
Share of web traffic by device
42.52% mobile phones, 55.70% computers (laptops and desktops), 1.77% tablet devices, others 0.02%
Mobile connection as a percentage of total population: 130.6%
Percentage of mobile connections that are broadband (3G-5G): 93%
Most popular web search engines
Google (94.13%), Bing (3.61%), DuckDuckGo (1.1%), Yahoo (0.65%), Yandex (0.22%), Other (0.3%)
Most used social media
Facebook (79.5%), Twitter (6.27%), Instagram (6.24%), Pinterest (5.45%), Reddit (1.07%), YouTube (0.88%), Tumblr (0.32%), Other (0.29%)
internet data sources: Datareportal/Statcounter
Social statistics
Life expectancy
83 yrs (2021)
Corruption perceptions Index
Iceland scored 74 out of 100, ranked 14 out of 180 countries worldwide.
CO2 emissions
3.9 metric tons per capita
World Happiness Index
Iceland ranked 3rd out of 146 countries, with a score of 7.557
Current education expenditure
94.3% of total expenditure in public institutions
Current health expenditure
9.65% of GDP (2018)
Glass Ceiling Index
78.7 out 100, ranked 2nd out of 29 countries.
The glass-ceiling index measures the environment for working women combining data on higher education, labor-force participation, pay, child-care costs, maternity and paternity rights, business-school applications, and representation in senior jobs.
Social statistics sources: WorldBank/UN/UNESCO/CEIC/IMF
The Data Factbook is a work in progress project. Our community is helping us to fill it up always with new and updated data. Your contribution is precious. If you want to help us, please write your advices at imminent@translated.com
Languages research
Languages and dialects spoken in Iceland
The geographical distribution of languages that you will find in the maps published in this section is a work in progress. Our community is helping us to fill it up with always new and updated data. Your contribution is precious. If you want to help us, please write to imminent.factbook@translated.com
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