9 facts about Iceland you may have never heard of

As we are not only listening to Icelandic music but also read a lot of books about Iceland and it’s culture, to impress the natives to know a little more about where and with whom we will spend the next month. So, we’ve come across some interesting and funny facts. Because we like the idea of sharing, here’s some of them.

Iceland has a population density per square kilometer of 2,8.

That’s a population of about 320,000 living on 103,001 km2. About two thirds of Iceland’s population are located in the capital Reykjavík and its surrounding area.

Icelanders are listed in the telephone directory alphabetically by their first name.

Because they don’t have family names – see next.

Icelandic names reflect the immediate father (or mother)

Example: Magnús Jakobson has a daughter named Lára. Lára’s name will be Lára Magnúsdóttir. Because she’s Magnús’ daughter (dóttir). Now you can bet Magnús’ father is called Jakob. If Magnus has a son too, say Arí, his name will be Arí Magnússon. Get it? Wait, there’s more… But you can read that on wikipedia

Icelands parliament (Althingi) was founded about 1,000 years ago.

That makes Iceland the world’s oldest democracy.

Icelandic winter nights and summer days are very long.

That’s because Iceland lies just south of the Arctic Circle. It never gets darker than twilight at night during the late spring and early summer. On June 21 (this day marks the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere) the sun sets about midnight and rises at 3:00 a.m. On December 21, the sun rises at 11:30 a.m. and sets at about 3:30 p.m.

Iceland has no army.

One-third of the Earth’s lava output has spewed forth in Iceland

In the past 500 years, nearly one-third of the Earth’s lava output has spewed forth in Iceland. Furthermore, 83% of the world’s sub glacial eruptions have occurred in Iceland. Source

Iceland has the highest per-capita consumption of Coca Cola in the world.

In the old days, the Icelanders divided the year into only two seasons

Winter and Summer. Looking at the weather in Germany at the moment, one could say it would totally make sense for us too.

Beer was banned in Iceland until 1989

Yep, that’s true.