In 2017 there were over 30 thousand active enterprises with more than 134 thousand employees. Turnover for these enterprises was 4,000 billion ISK. There were 28 thousand enterprises with less than 10 employees (94% of total). These enterprises had nearly 38 thousand employees (28%), turnover was 908 billion ISK (16%) and gross operating surplus was 188 billion ISK (38%). In comparison there were only 179 enterprises with 100 employees or more. They employed 51 thousand employees (38%), had a turnover of 1,800 billion ISK (45%) and a net turnover of 210 billion ISK (43%).
The statistics are based on a standardized methodology and is comparable with structural business statistics in other European countries. It is based on yearly enterprise tax returns and covers the business sector with the addition of fisheries and aquaculture from 2008-2017. The data is broken down by NACE classification and the number of employees.
Further information on variable definitions can be found in the commission regulation (EC) No 250/2009.
| Turnover by industries 2017 | |||||||
| Persons employed | |||||||
| 0-1 | 2-4 | 5-9 | 10-49 | 50-99 | 100+ | Total | |
| Total business economy including fisheries and excluding financial and insurance activities | 383,017 | 245,218 | 280,357 | 940,830 | 376,919 | 1,799,411 | 4,025,752 |
| Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles | 56,317 | 84,155 | 115,293 | 371,112 | 146,105 | 465,916 | 1,238,897 |
| Manufacturing except fish processing | 18,253 | 14,216 | 21,482 | 109,190 | 60,808 | 411,417 | 635,367 |
| Tourism industries | 48,859 | 25,225 | 30,529 | 147,364 | 37,082 | 301,385 | 590,443 |
| Transportation and storage | 46,345 | 8,929 | 8,873 | 50,070 | 21,319 | 317,583 | 453,119 |
| Construction, mining and quarrying | 64,098 | 43,031 | 48,215 | 101,273 | 28,831 | 49,596 | 335,044 |
| High technology manufacturing and services | 25,949 | 13,642 | 10,744 | 52,259 | 22,357 | 176,222 | 301,173 |
| Fisheries | 11,114 | 8,341 | 12,104 | 55,416 | 22,263 | 168,432 | 277,671 |
| Transport | 33,712 | 1,897 | 2,187 | 18,627 | 7,139 | 203,693 | 267,256 |
| Administrative and support service activities | 28,225 | 17,605 | 19,470 | 64,223 | 11,545 | 71,550 | 212,618 |
| High technology services | 16,332 | 11,269 | 7,649 | 32,280 | 16,897 | 125,820 | 210,246 |
| Information and communication | 21,723 | 11,448 | 8,675 | 35,328 | 15,879 | 105,476 | 198,528 |
| Accommodation and food service activities | 6,879 | 12,243 | 15,472 | 80,883 | 22,858 | 52,091 | 190,427 |
| Electricity,gas, steam and air conditioning supply, water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities | 4,033 | 2,448 | 602 | 13,027 | 30,052 | 112,297 | 162,460 |
| Professional, scientific and technical activities | 33,122 | 21,073 | 15,735 | 35,947 | 12,402 | 37,085 | 155,365 |
| Number of persons employed by industries 2017 | |||||||
| Persons employed | |||||||
| 0-1 | 2-4 | 5-9 | 10-49 | 50-99 | 100+ | Alls | |
| Total business economy including fisheries and excluding financial and insurance activities | 16,450 | 10,332 | 11,122 | 32,783 | 12,362 | 51,068 | 134,117 |
| Tourism industries | 1,830 | 1,376 | 1,955 | 9,327 | 2,658 | 10,799 | 27,945 |
| Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles | 1,601 | 2,168 | 2,597 | 6,337 | 2,557 | 10,157 | 25,417 |
| Manufacturing except fish processing | 864 | 771 | 1,122 | 4,394 | 2,352 | 7,774 | 17,277 |
| Accommodation and food service activities | 750 | 889 | 1,416 | 7,487 | 2,033 | 4,521 | 17,096 |
| Construction, mining and quarrying | 3,192 | 2,215 | 2,282 | 4,135 | 963 | 1,570 | 14,357 |
| Transportation and storage | 1,420 | 372 | 341 | 1,440 | 709 | 9,898 | 14,180 |
| High technology manufacturing and services | 1,096 | 667 | 680 | 2,316 | 1,098 | 6,799 | 12,656 |
| Administrative and support service activities | 1,164 | 787 | 877 | 2,536 | 719 | 5,031 | 11,114 |
| High technology services | 992 | 557 | 528 | 1,654 | 843 | 5,531 | 10,105 |
| Professional, scientific and technical activities | 3,315 | 1,196 | 963 | 1,929 | 695 | 1,837 | 9,935 |
| Fisheries | 757 | 354 | 447 | 1,808 | 928 | 4,822 | 9,116 |
| Information and communication | 1,372 | 577 | 473 | 1,671 | 902 | 3,760 | 8,755 |
| Transport | 785 | 107 | 102 | 529 | 328 | 4,378 | 6,229 |
| Electricity,gas, steam and air conditioning supply, water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities | 25 | 41 | 36 | 300 | 361 | 1,594 | 2,357 |