Information about Iceland
The Icelandic Republic or Iceland is an island located in the North-Atlantic and is the westernmost European country. It has a total landmass of 103,00km2, however about 63% of the country is tundra and has more glacier covered land than all of Europe.
Iceland has a population of 320 thousand inhabitants and Reykjavik is the capital and in the greater Reykjavik area about half of the population resides. The currency in Iceland is the Icelandic Krona (ISK). Icelandic is the official language of Iceland, however the general population speaks good English, Danish and in some cases German.
Iceland is classified as an industrialized country and its social-market is Scandinavian oriented, has a capitalist structure and follows free-market principles. The most important industry in Iceland is the fishing as it accounts for 40% of export earnings and employs 6% of the work force. The service industry employs 75% of the work force – the rest of the work force is divided in various industrial and technological manufacturing industries.
Iceland is a global leader in renewable energy sources, hydro and geothermal power provides all of Iceland’s electricity and 80% of the total national energy expenditure, the remainder consisting of oil used in transportation and agricultural industry.
Icelandic tourism is growing every year and the country has become a popular vacation spot in recent years and averages around 1.1 million foreign visitors yearly, nearly triple the population.
