Immigrants in Iceland were 69,691 on 1 January 2024 or 18.2% of the total population. The proportion of immigrants is larger than last year when it was 16.7% (62,821). The number of second generation immigrants rose from 6,855 in 2023 to 7,351 in 2024. Combined, first and second generation immigrants, made up 20.1% of the population. The percentage has never been higher. The number of individuals with a foreign background, other than immigrants, also increased slightly between years and amounted to 7.3% of the population.
An immigrant is a person born abroad with both parents foreign born and all grandparents foreign born, whereas a second generation immigrant is born in Iceland having immigrant parents. A person with a foreign background has one parent of foreign origin.
People born in Poland the largest group of immigrants
People born in Poland were the largest group of immigrants on 1 January 2024 as in the previous years, 22,394 or 32.1% of the total immigrant population. The second largest group of immigrants were born in Ukraine (5.3%) followed by people born in Lithuania (5.1%). Polish men were 33.8% of all male immigrants or 12,737 out of 37,691. Lithuanian men were the second most populous (5.9%) followed by men of Romanian origin (5.5%). Polish women were 30.2% of the female immigrants, followed by women from the Ukraine (6.6%) and women from Philippines (5.1%).
The highest proportion of immigrants in the Southwest
On 1 January 2024, 64.2% of first and second generation immigrants were living in the Capital region or 49,433. The highest proportion of immigrants was in the Southwest with 31.5% of first and second generation immigrants. The second highest proportion was in the Westfjords, whereas 23.8% of the population were immigrants or second generation immigrants. The lowest proportion was in the Northwest where only 10.6% of the population were immigrants or second generation immigrants.
649 persons acquired Icelandic citizenship in 2023
A total of 649 persons were granted Icelandic citizenship in 2023 compared with 706 in 2022. New Icelandic citizens were mostly of Polish origin (156) and the second largest group previously had Thai citizenship (40). In 1991, more men than women received Icelandic citizenship, but every year since then women have been the majority of new Icelandic citizens. This was also the case in 2023 when 344 women were granted Icelandic citizenship and 305 men.