Iceland’s population slightly increases

Iceland_satellite bigA recent report from Visir indicates over a thousand babies were born and 550 people died in Iceland during the first quarter of 2013. At the end of 2009, when the last official figures were tallied, Iceland had a total population of 322,930. It has since been estimated at 315,000 in 2012, according the CIA Factbook, making it among the 20 smallest country populations in the world.

The 1,040 babies born during the year’s first quarter were joined by 520 people who moved to Iceland from other countries. Most of the 580 Icelandic residents who left the country moved to Norway, Sweden, or Denmark, while 440 more Icelandic citizens returned to their home country from these three Scandinavian nations.

Poland was the leading destination for 80 of the foreign nationals who left Iceland for other countries, while 50 foreign nationals moved from Iceland to the United States.

More than 206,000 of Iceland’s residents lived in the nation’s capital, Reykjavik, at the end of 2009. There were 21,910 foreign immigrants in the country during the same time period.

Presently, the country has a 0.63% growth rate and 93% urbanization of the population.