Population of Iceland: nearly 357,000

According to a new report by Statistics Iceland, the population of Iceland on January 1 this year was 356,991, compared with 348,450 a year earlier. This represents a population growth of 2.5 percent, or 8,541 people. This increase was mainly due to positive net migration in 2018, together with natural population growth (the number of births less the number of deaths).

During the past five years, the population has grown by an annual average of 1.9 percent.

Seven regions experienced a population increase. Proportionally, the Reykjanes area had the largest population increase, or 5.2 percent (1,343 people), while comparative figures for the capital region were 2.6 percent, or 5,747 people. The population declined only in one region, the Northeast, or by 8 people.

Live births in Iceland were 4,228 in 2018 - 2,242 boys and 1,986 girls. This compares with 4,071 children born the previous year. The total fertility rate, i.e. the average number of children who would be born to a woman over her lifetime, was 1.707 in 2018, compared with 1.710 in the previous year.

In 2018, 2,254 people died in Iceland - 1,139 men and 1,115 women. The crude death rate was 6.4 per 1,000 inhabitants. Infant mortality rate in Iceland was 1.7 per 1,000 live births in 2018. Life expectancy of men in 2018 was 81.0 years and 84.1 years for women.

There were 50,272 immigrants in Iceland on January 1, or 14.1 percent of the population. The proportion of immigrants is considerably larger than last year, when it was 12.6 percent.

The number of second generation immigrants rose from 4,861 in 2018 to 5,263 in 2019. In 2018, 569 people were granted Icelandic citizenship, compared with 637 in 2017.

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