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 Population
of Iceland
There are no Indigenous Inuit people in
Iceland and both the language and
culture of
Iceland were purely Scandinavian from the outset,
although, there are traces of Celtic influence in the
appearance of present-day Icelanders who have a
higher percentage of dark and red hair than other
Nordic nations.
Iceland is the most sparsely populated country
in Europe with an average of about seven
inhabitants per square mile, limited to a narrow coastal belt, valleys and the
lowland plains in the south and southwest.
Around the year 1100 the population, is
estimated to have been about 70 - 80,000. Three
times in the eighteenth century it sank below
40,000, but by the year 1900 it had reached
78,000. In 1925 it passed the 100,000 mark, in
1967 it reached 200,000 and is now close to
300,000.
The average life expectancy for men is 74 years
and for women 80 years - one of the world's
highest expectancies.
The population of Iceland (as of July 2005) is
approximately 296,737
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