Iceland
population: National quarterly estimate (1 Apr 2026) · indicators as of 2026-09-05 · 7 metros tracked
🗺️ Geography7 metros
Iceland metro footprint, shaded by composite tier.
Hover for rank, click to open the metro page. Boundaries derived from Overture Maps administrative divisions; metros without source coverage are omitted.
🏙️ 7 tracked metros
| Metro | State | Tier | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #478 | Reykjavík★ Capital▲ Largest | Höfuðborgarsvæði | 261K | 5.1 | Established Metro |
| #1670 | Akureyri | Norðurland eystra | 20K | 0.6 | Local Metro |
| #2881 | Akranes | Vesturland | 8K | 0.3 | Local Metro |
| #2890 | Egilsstaðir | Austurland | 5K | 0.3 | Local Metro |
| #2894 | Vestmannaeyjar | Suðurland | 4K | 0.3 | Local Metro |
| #4305 | Ísafjarðarbær | Vestfirðir | 4K | 0.0 | Local Metro |
| #4309 | Fjallabyggð | Norðurland eystra | 2K | 0.0 | Local Metro |
🗂️ Regions
8 entries listed under Iceland. Click any to see its metros and footprint.
📋 At a glance
- Official language
- Icelandic
- Currency
- Icelandic króna (ISK)
- Government
- Parliamentary republic
- Legislature
- Althing
- Constitution
- 1944, 7 amendment events since
- Time zone
- UTC±00:00
- Driving side
- Right
- Calling code
- +354
- Internet TLD
- .is
- ISO 3166
- IS
- Established
- 1944
- Highest point
- Hvannadalshnúkur (2,110 m (6,923 ft))
- National anthem
- Lofsöngur
Facts via Wikidata.
📰 In the news1 story
Semafor · 29 Aug 2026
Iceland votes on resuming EU talksFurther reading from the day's section on Venezuela, Hormuz and the shape of American power.
💹 Economy and developmentHigh income
Ranks are among sovereign countries with data; ★ marks a top-5% finish. Sources: World Bank Open Data and Our World in Data (UNDP, UN WPP, V-Dem, Global Carbon Budget, Ember, Energy Institute; CC BY 4.0). Each card credits its originating body. Renewable share is of electricity generation, not of primary energy. Each figure is the most recent year available.
🏛️ Leadership History13 leaders · click to expand
marks a leader associated with atrocities or defiance of law, systemic subversion of democratic institutions, or a criminal conviction. Convictions arising from political persecution, and annulled convictions, are excluded. denotes a monarch. These are editorial designations, applied per entry rather than derived automatically.
Other
Kristrún Mjöll Frostadóttir✦ Current
2024–PresentPrime Minister
Halla Tómasdóttir✦ Current
2024–PresentPresident
Bjarni Benediktsson
2024–2024Prime Minister
Katrín Jakobsdóttir
2017–2024Prime Minister
Bjarni Benediktsson
2017–2017Prime Minister
Guðni Jóhannesson
2016–2024President
Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson
2013–2017Prime Minister
Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson
1996–2016President
| Name | Role | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Kristrún Mjöll Frostadóttir✦ Current | Prime Minister | 2024–Present |
| Halla Tómasdóttir✦ Current | President | 2024–Present |
| Bjarni Benediktsson | Prime Minister | 2024–2024 |
| Katrín Jakobsdóttir | Prime Minister | 2017–2024 |
| Bjarni Benediktsson | Prime Minister | 2017–2017 |
| Guðni Jóhannesson | President | 2016–2024 |
| Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson | Prime Minister | 2013–2017 |
| Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson | President | 1996–2016 |
Iceland
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir
1980–1996President
Kristján Eldjárn
1968–1980President
Ásgeir Ásgeirsson
1952–1968President
Sveinn Björnsson
1944–1952President
| Name | Role | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Vigdís Finnbogadóttir | President | 1980–1996 |
| Kristján Eldjárn | President | 1968–1980 |
| Ásgeir Ásgeirsson | President | 1952–1968 |
| Sveinn Björnsson | President | 1944–1952 |
Kingdom of Iceland
👑 Christian X
1918–1944King
| Name | Role | Years |
|---|---|---|
| 👑 Christian X | King | 1918–1944 |
📈 Power over timeThe Power Atlas →
The powerline is the headline share of world power, running from the state’s first ranked year (benchmark estimates with wide error bars before 1816). Latent power is material mass a state could mobilise (population, manpower, heavy industry). Recognised power is what the system actually treats it as (military spending, productive economy, reach, and status such as a Security Council seat or nuclear arsenal). When latent runs above recognised, a power is rising or under-rated; when recognised runs higher, it is punching above its weight or coasting on prestige. Material sub-indices run 1816 through 2016.
👥 Population over time
Our World in Data population (CC BY): UN WPP 2024 from 1950, Gapminder v7 1800-1949, HYDE 3.3 earlier; today's borders. Figures above are as of 2023, the last year that is estimated rather than forecast. The dashed tail to 2026 is a UN WPP medium-variant projection. It is drawn because the line should reach the present, and drawn differently because it has not happened yet: no rank, peak or share on this page uses it. Before 1950 the series is reconstruction rather than contemporaneous statistics, which is worth knowing when a country’s peak sits back there. The current population shown elsewhere on this page comes from the workbook and is unchanged by this. Note that people and share of world can move in opposite directions. A country can grow steadily and still become a smaller part of humanity, which is what happened to almost every rich country after 1960.
👥 To 2100
The UN’s probabilistic projection for Iceland: the median with its 80% and 95% bands, the UN’s own high, low and zero-migration scenarios beside it. Not this site’s model; the site reads it and says what it implies.
Tap or drag across the chart to read any year: the estimate to 2023, then the UN median, its bands and the scenarios.
What drives it
Births, deaths and net migration on the UN medium path, with fertility, life expectancy and median age, every decade from 1950.
Show all 16 decades
Source: United Nations, DESA, Population Division. World Population Prospects 2024. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 IGO. Estimates to 2023; projections 2024 to 2100, medium variant and probabilistic intervals. The UN revises every two years; this is the WPP 2024 revision.
💰 Billionaires1 · $1.0B combined · click to expand
| # | Name | Net worth | Industry |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3397 | Thor Bjorgolfsson | $1.0B | Diversified |
Source: Forbes real-time billionaires (via the rtb-api project). Net worth as of the latest monthly snapshot.
🏆 National Teams
Iceland on the international stage. Click a card for the full record.
