Who are Iceland’s top earners?
Iceland's top earner in 2014 received almost EUR 200,000 a month. Photo: Golli / Kjartan Þorbjörnsson
Many Icelanders will have spent the weekend poring over the annual ‘Income Issue’ of Icelandic business magazine Frjáls verslun. The 80-page supplement gives official income figures for over 3,700 Icelanders in various fields.
Frjáls verslun’s annual ‘Income Issue’ quickly becomes a talking point among many in Icelandic society as the monthly wages of leading figures are consulted, compared and digested.
This year’s issue sorts 3,725 individuals into twenty professional categories – everything from advertising gurus to actual clergy – and lists them in descending order of monthly income in 2014.
CEO of deCODE highest earner
Data are taken from tax authorities in the various municipalities of Iceland. The figures quoted are not necessarily fixed salary, but may include, for instance, committee work, other employment, and bonuses for work performed in 2013.
Elements such as capital gains and tax-free maintenance allowance are excluded from the figures.
The 2015 ‘Income Issue’ identifies Kári Stefánsson, CEO of deCODE genetics as Iceland’s highest earner in 2014. His monthly income last year is estimated at approx. ISK 29.1 million (€197,000) per month.
Stefánsson is followed on the overall list by Jón Guðmann Pétursson, Former CEO of Hampiðjan (approx. ISK 24.5 million – €166,000 per month) and Árni Harðarson, CEO of Salt Investments (approx. ISK 22.1 million – €149,000 per month).
Women under-represented?
Of the top ten earners across all fields, just one is woman. Iceland’s highest women earner in 2014 – according to the ‘Income Issue’ – is Guðbjörg Edda Eggertsdóttir, consultant and director at Auði Capital. Eggertsdóttir’s monthly income last year is estimated at approx. ISK 10.1 million (€68,100) per month, placing her ninth on the overall list.
Exactly the same proportion of women is found when considering the top earners in each field individually. Looking at the top five earners in each of the twenty fields, 90% of the names are men. At best, women make up two out the top five (in two fields: ‘Professionals’ and ‘Lawyers’).
The top earner in each of the twenty fields looked at in the ‘Income Issue’ can be seen below (click to enlarge).
