wastewatertreatment
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic
Pollutants, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto
Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes,
Kyoto Protocol, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer
Protection, Ship Pollution, Transboundary Air Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification, Marine Life
Conservation
Geography - note:
strategic location between Greenland and Europe; westernmost
European country; Reykjavik is the northernmost national capital in
the world; more land covered by glaciers than in all of continental
Europe
People Iceland
Population:
296,737 (July 2005 est.)
Age structure:
0–14 years: 22.1% (male 33,302/female 32,257)
15–64 years: 66.2% (male 99,513/female 96,886)
65 years and over: 11.7% (male 15,723/female 19,056) (2005 est.)
Median age:
total: 34 years
male: 33.53 years
female: 34.49 years (2005 est.)
Population growth rate:
0.91% (2005 est.)
Birth rate:
13.73 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Death rate:
6.68 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Net migration rate:
2.06 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.04 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
15–64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.82 male(s)/female
total population: 1 male(s)/female (2005 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
total: 3.31 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 3.45 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 3.16 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 80.19 years
male: 78.13 years
female: 82.34 years (2005 est.)
Total fertility rate:
1.92 children born/woman (2005 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
0.2% (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
220 (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths:
less than 100 (2003 est.)
Nationality:
noun: Icelander(s)
adjective: Icelandic
Ethnic groups:
homogeneous mixture of descendants of Norse and Celts 94%,
population of foreign origin 6%
Religions:
Lutheran Church of Iceland 85.5%, Reykjavik Free Church 2.1%, Roman
Catholic Church 2%, Hafnarfjorour Free Church 1.5%, other Christian
2.7%, other or unspecified 3.8%, unaffiliated 2.4% (2004)
Languages:
Icelandic, English, Nordic languages, German widely spoken
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99.9% (1997 est.)
male: NA%
female: NA%
Government Iceland
Country name:
conventional long form: Republic of Iceland
conventional short form: Iceland
local long form: Lydhveldidh Island
local short form: Island
Government type:
constitutional republic
Capital:
Reykjavik
Administrative divisions:
8 regions; Austurland, Hofudhborgarsvaedhi, Nordhurland Eystra,
Nordhurland Vestra, Sudhurland, Sudhurnes, Vestfirdhir, Vesturland
Independence:
1 December 1918 (became a sovereign state under the Danish Crown);
17 June 1944 (from Denmark)
National holiday:
Independence Day, 17 June (1944)
Constitution:
16 June 1944, effective 17 June 1944; amended many times
Legal system:
civil law system based on Danish law; has not accepted compulsory
ICJ jurisdiction
Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal
Executive branch:
chief of state: President Olafur Ragnar GRIMSSON (since
