Official Name: Lýdhveldidh Ísland (Republic of Iceland)

Area: Europe

Size: 103,000 km²

Coastline: 4,970 km

Independence: from Denmark in 1918

Form of Govt.: Unitary multiparty republic

Head of Govt.: President

Capital: Reykjavík

Largest City: Reykjavík

Demographics (2005): 309,699.    2.9 /km² 

Homogeneous mixture of descendants of Norwegians and Celts

GDP per Capita (2005): $ 35,586

Languages: Icelandic (English and a second Scandinavian language, Danish by default, are also a part of the Icelandic compulsory education

Geography: The country is a volcanic island of basaltic lava flows and tuffs. Almost 80% of the land area consists of glacial lakes or mountainous lava deserts and there are a number of active volcanoes and geysers or hot springs. The coastline is heavily indented with many fjords that lead into broad and high ridges. In addition there are several large snow fields and glaciers including the Langjokull, Myrdalsjokull, Hofsjokull and Vatnajokull.

Climate: Iceland has a cold temperate climate that is influenced by the North Atlantic Drift, which is a continuation of the Gulf Air Stream. It has a changeable climate that is relatively mild but extremely windy while summers are damp, cool and cloudy with brief spells of fine weather. The wet season is from October to January with an average monthly precipitation in October reaching 940 mm. Average temperature ranges in Reykjavik are from -2 to 2 degrees in January to 9 to 14 degrees in July.