President: Olafur Ragnar Grimsson Prime minister: Johanna Sigurdardottir
Population
313,847,465
313,183
Life Expectancy
78.490 years
81.000 years
Capital City
Washington, DC
Reykjavik
Largest city
New York City (population: 8,008,280)
Reykjavik (population: 113,906)
Human Development Index
0.95
NA
GDP per capita
$49,000 US
$38,500 US
Literacy Rate
99%
99%
Corruption Perception Index
7.3
8.9
Percentage of Women in Parliament
16.6%
33.3%
Wealthiest Citizens
William Gates III ($40.0bn US)
Bjorgolfur Thor Bjorgolfsson ($1.0bn US)
Unemployment Rate
9.000%
7.400%
Death Penalty
Legal
Abolished
Political System
Constitution-based federal republic; strong democratic tradition
constitutional republic
Independence date
4 July 1776 (from Great Britain)
1 December 1918 (became a sovereign state under the Danish Crown); 17 June 1944 (from Denmark)
Religions
Protestant 51.3%, Roman Catholic 23.9%, Mormon 1.7%, other Christian 1.6%, Jewish 1.7%, Buddhist 0.7%, Muslim 0.6%, other or unspecified 2.5%, unaffiliated 12.1%, none 4% (2007 est.)
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 82.1%, Spanish 10.7%, other Indo-European 3.8%, Asian and Pacific island 2.7%, other 0.7% (2000 census) note: Hawaiian is an official language in the state of Hawaii
Icelandic, English, Nordic languages, German widely spoken
fish and fish products 70%, aluminum, animal products, ferrosilicon, diatomite
External Debt
$14,710,000,000,000 $
$124,500,000,000 US
Exchange Rate
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
4.060%
0.000%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
110
1
Location
North America, bordering both the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Pacific Ocean, between Canada and Mexico
Northern Europe, island between the Greenland Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, northwest of the UK
Area
9,826,675 km sq
103,000 km sq
Coastline
19,924 km
4,970 km
Climate
mostly temperate, but tropical in Hawaii and Florida, arctic in Alaska, semiarid in the great plains west of the Mississippi River, and arid in the Great Basin of the southwest; low winter temperatures in the northwest are ameliorated occasionally in January and February by warm chinook winds from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains
temperate; moderated by North Atlantic Current; mild, windy winters; damp, cool summers
