Language/Icelandic/Culture/People

This lesson can still be improved. EDIT IT NOW! & become VIP

Rate this lesson:

5.00

(one vote)

Help - Comments

Icelandic People

Icelandic is the language of Iceland, a European island nation in the North Atlantic. It is a Nordic country and thus shares cultural and political ties with the Faroe Islands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Greenland. Icelandic is a Germanic language, and so it is related to the Scandinavian languages as well as English and German.

As of January 2007, Iceland had approximately 300,000 inhabitants of which approximately 190,000 or 65 percent lived in the capital city Reykjavik and its surrounding areas. The country’s population rose by 2.2 percent in 2005. The overall population density is the lowest in Europe with only three inhabitants per square kilometer. The inner, mountainous, and glacial part of the country is not inhabited, and most populations are around the coastal regions.

The only city in Iceland is Reykjavik. The only urban area outside of the capital is Akureyri which has approximately 15,000 inhabitants. Other towns are considerably smaller. Iceland is divided into 23 counties (sýsla). Within these counties there are 98 municipalities (sveitarfélag).

Once you've mastered this lesson, take a look at these related pages: Economy & Djammið How to Party in Reykjavík.