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.

Media

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

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%)

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.