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Snorra Edda
Völuspá | |  Old
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Geography
The surface area of Iceland is 103,000 km2.
12,000 km2 (12%) are covered by Glaciers, 11,000 km2
(11%) by lava and lakes cover 3,000 km2 (3%).
List of Icelandic volcanoes.
People
December 1. 1994: 266,786. In the greater capital (Reykjavik) area live
150,000 (56.4%) of these 266786 people.
Let freedom ring
A University of Iceland consumer poll shows that 56% of Icelandic homes have two
or more telephones, with 19% owning three or more. Portable GSM phones can be
found in 14% of Icelandic households, with the same percentage sporting
answering machines.
Daily News from Iceland July 24, 1996.
High percentage of all mod cons
A survey of home appliances carried out by the Social Science Research Institute
of the University of Iceland reveals that almost half of those responding are
gas grill/barbecue grill owners. The survey, which canvassed a cross-section of
1,200 people between the ages 14-80 further reveals that 98.7% own a cooker and
refrigerator, 93.9% own a washing machine, 92.8% own a baking oven, 82.5% a
mixer, 71.1% a microwave oven, 68.9% a kitchen extractor fan, 67.7% are owners
of a freezer, 46.1% own a gas grill, 43:5% own a dishwasher, 42.4% own a dryer,
and 40.6% own a food processor.
Daily News from Iceland August 13, 1996.
Half of all homes with computer
Over half of all homes in Iceland feature a computer with 12.3 per cent of the
nation connected to the Internet. According to a survey conducted by The Social
Science Research Institute of the University of Iceland, 53.3 per cent of those
responding to a recent poll confirmed that a computer was present at their
private residence. Furthermore, 14 per cent said they owned a modem and 21.1 per
cent confirmed using a CD drive. The most popular computer is a PC486,
accounting for 29.2 per cent of the respondents. Daily News from Iceland
August 20, 1996.
Books and CDs popular companions
Eighty-three per cent of Icelanders read books, with almost as many, or 76.5 per
cent, using compact discs or CDs, according to a survey by the Social Science
Research Institute at the University of Iceland. The average Icelander read 11.8
books over the last twelve months, and bought 2.9 at bookstores and another 1.7
through book clubs. About 60% of respondents listened to Icelandic or foreign
CDs at some time or other, with pop/rock the most popular format (48%), followed
by classical (43%) and jazz/blues (25%). Daily News from Iceland August 21,
1996.
Oldest Icelander turns 108
The oldest living Icelander is not living in Iceland but in Canada. In
celebrating her 108th birthday on Sunday, Gudrún Björg Björnsdóttir Árnason,
who was born in Egilsstadir, east Iceland in 1888 but moved to Canada when she
was five, is, according to the daily Morgunbladid, the oldest Icelander alive
today. She resides at a home for the aged in Gimli in Manitoba. The oldest
Icelander living in Iceland is 104-year-old Kristín Hallgrímsdóttir.
Altogether there are 24 individuals 100-years-of-age or older in Iceland, seven
of whom are men and 17 women. All bear testimony to the fact that Iceland boasts
one of, if not the best, rates of longevity in the world. Daily News from
Iceland October 22, 1996.
Three-quarters of the population expected to travel abroad this year
Almost 75% of the population of Iceland is expected to travel abroad this year.
According to a report in the daily DV, representatives of the nation's travel
agencies are predicting around 200,000 Icelanders will arrive home after making
trips to foreign shores.
The forecast comes in the wake of a weekend when the major travel operators and
agencies introduced their products for 1997.
It means that this year will be a record year for foreign travel easily
surpassing last year's figure of 189,618. Indeed, since 1990 the industry has
witnessed an annual increase in the number of those traveling abroad of around
20,000. Daily News from Iceland February 19, 1997.
Small Bits
 | Almost every household has at least one television, a telephone, radio and
a car.
| Iceland is the only country in the world that has never had an army of its
own.
| It takes an Icelandic worker 74 minutes to earn one BigMac (in 1995). |
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