President: Olafur Ragnar Grimsson Prime minister: Johanna Sigurdardottir
Population
63,047,162
313,183
Life Expectancy
80.170 years
81.000 years
Capital City
London
Reykjavik
Largest city
London (population: 7,421,210)
Reykjavik (population: 113,906)
Human Development Index
0.942
NA
GDP per capita
$36,600 US
$38,500 US
Literacy Rate
99%
99%
Corruption Perception Index
7.7
8.9
Percentage of Women in Parliament
19.6%
33.3%
Wealthiest Citizens
Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor & family ($11.0bn US)
Bjorgolfur Thor Bjorgolfsson ($1.0bn US)
Unemployment Rate
8.100%
7.400%
Death Penalty
Abolished
Abolished
Political System
constitutional monarchy
constitutional republic
Independence date
England has existed as a unified entity since the 10th century; the union between England and Wales, begun in 1284 with the Statute of Rhuddlan, was not formalized until 1536 with an Act of Union; in another Act of Union in 1707, England and Scotland agreed to permanently join as Great Britain; the legislative union of Great Britain and Ireland was implemented in 1801, with the adoption of the name the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; the Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921 formalized a partition of Ireland; six northern Irish counties remained part of the United Kingdom as Northern Ireland and the current name of the country, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, was adopted in 1927
1 December 1918 (became a sovereign state under the Danish Crown); 17 June 1944 (from Denmark)
Religions
Christian (Anglican, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist) 71.6%, Muslim 2.7%, Hindu 1%, other 1.6%, unspecified or none 23.1% (2001 census)
Lutheran Church of Iceland 82.1%, Roman Catholic Church 2.4%, Reykjavik Free Church 2.3%, Hafnarfjorour Free Church 1.6%, other Christian 2.8%, other religions 0.9%, unaffiliated 2.6%, other or unspecified 5.5% (2006 est.)
Languages
English, Welsh (about 26% of the population of Wales), Scottish form of Gaelic (about 60,000 in Scotland)
Icelandic, English, Nordic languages, German widely spoken
fish and fish products 70%, aluminum, animal products, ferrosilicon, diatomite
External Debt
$9,836,000,000,000 $
$124,500,000,000 US
Exchange Rate
British pounds (GBP) per US dollar - 0.5302 (2008 est.), 0.4993 (2007), 0.5418 (2006), 0.5493 (2005), 0.5462 (2004)
Icelandic kronur (ISK) per US dollar - 85.619 (2008 est.), 63.391 (2007), 70.195 (2006), 62.982 (2005), 70.192 (2004)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
2.700%
0.000%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
47
1
Location
Western Europe, islands including the northern one-sixth of the island of Ireland between the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea, northwest of France
Northern Europe, island between the Greenland Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, northwest of the UK
Area
243,610 km sq
103,000 km sq
Coastline
12,429 km
4,970 km
Climate
temperate; moderated by prevailing southwest winds over the North Atlantic Current; more than one-half of the days are overcast
temperate; moderated by North Atlantic Current; mild, windy winters; damp, cool summers
