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Iceland, officially known as the Republic of Iceland is located in the Northern Europe. It consists of the island of Iceland and many outlying islets in the Northern Atlantic Ocean, situated between Greenland and the rest of Europe. Iceland is the 18th largest country in the world. It is also the second largest island in Europe after the Great Britain.
Major towns are apart from the capital city Reykjavik are Kapovogur, Reykjanesbaer, Hafnarfjorour and Akureyri. Iceland has four national parks, Skaftafell National Park, Jokulsargljufaur National Park, Pingvellir National park and Snaefellsjokull National Park.
Iceland is a geologically new and active country, with Active volcanoes like the Hekla, Eldfell and Eldjga. In Iceland you can also witness the Geysers. Iceland harness hydroelectricity because of the availability of geothermal energy and many rivers and waterfalls. Iceland is also has power over the worlds smallest island, Surtsey, which has risen above the ocean level as a result of series of volcanic eruption between 8th November ,1963 and 3rd June, 1968.
Reykjavik, the capital city is the northernmost national capital in the world; Most of the land is covered by the glaciers.Coastal climate of Iceland is mainly cold oceanic. The annual temperature is generally higher due to the warm North Atlantic Currents. Summers are damp and cool, where as winters are mild and windy. Distinct variation can be observed in the climate in comparison to other islands in the world. Although Iceland is close to the Artic the sea coasts are ice free during winters.
The northern coastal line is not as windier, warmer or wetter as compared to the southern coast line. Snowfall in the north is more common than in the southern region of the island. The Central highlands are the coldest of all the regions. |
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| People |
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Icelanders are basically homogeneous mixtures of the descendants of Norse and Celts from Ireland and Scotland, which compromises 94% of the entire population, and foreign origin make up to only 6%. The constitution endows the freedom of religion to the public, although there is no separation of church and state. The national church of Iceland, a Lutheran body, is the state Church. The major religion followed are Lutheran Church of Iceland that consist 85.5% of the population, Reykjavik Free Church with 2.1%, Roman Catholic Church with 2%, Hafnarfjorour Free Church has 1.5% of the population as followers, other Christian 2.7%, other or unspecified 3.8%, unaffiliated 2.4%.
Major languages of the Icelanders are Icelandic, Nordic languages, English is widely spoken and other common languages are German, Norwegian and Swedish Iceland is the most developed society in the world, also being the second longest-living nation with a life expectancy at birth of 81.8 years. They are also technologically advanced, with more than 82% having access to the computers. It is also a welfare state in terms of the benefits enjoyed by the population be it the old age pension or the unemployment benefits and generous housing subsidies. Education and excellent healthcare is also easily accessable to the Icelanders. |
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| Politics |
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Republic of Iceland is a constitutional republic country; it is a representative democracy and parliamentary republic. Iceland is divided into regions, constituencies, counties and Municipalities. Iceland is administratively divided into 8 regions: Austurland, Nordhurland Eystra, Sudhurland, Sudhurnes, Vestfirdhir, Vesturland, Hofudhborgarsvaedhi, Nordhurland Vestra.
President is the head of the state. The head of the government is the Prime minister who along the cabinet minister, takes care of the executive part of the government. The cabinet is appointed by the president after the general election to the Althing. "Althing" is the modern parliament, founded in 1845 as an advisory body to the Danish king.
President: Olafur Ragnar Grimsson
Prime Minister: Geir H. HAA
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| Economy |
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Iceland follows a capitalistic form of economy, yet has an extensive welfare system, low unemployment rate and disciplined distribution of income. The economy heavily depends on the fishing industry which provides 70% of the export earning. Although Iceland lacks natural resources it has abundant hydro-electric and Geothermal- power.
71.4% of the population is in the service industry, 23% are in the industrial sector and only 5.1% is into the agricultural sector.
The major industrial products to be found in Iceland are fish processing, tourism, ferrosilicon production; geothermal power and aluminum smelting.
The major agricultural products are green vegetables, potatoes, Dairy products, fish and mutton. |
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