On the occasion of the International World Book and Copyright Day on the 23rd of April, Statistics Iceland publishes information on the number of books published in Iceland in the years 1999–2006. In the year 2006, 1,419 book titles were published (including booklets of 5–48 pages). This equals 4.6 books per 1,000 inhabitants. The number of books published has declined somewhat in recent years, or by 275 titles when at highest in the year 2000 (see Figures 1 and 2).
Most books published are works written in Icelandic, or about three of every four each year. Translations’ share has gradually increased over recent years. Translations were 27 per cent of all publications in 2006 compared to 22 per cent in 1999. Of all translations about seven out of every ten are translations from English. The share of translations of works originally written in English is even higher within the field of literature. In 2006, 74 per cent of literature translations were translations from English.
In 2006, some 15 per cent of titles published were books for children and youth; five per cent were textbooks and the share of all other was 80 per cent (see Figure 3).
Statistics Iceland publishes annually information about published books on its Web site and in other form. The figures are derived from the Icelandic National Bibliography which is compiled by the National Library and University Library of Iceland. The inventory is based on information contained in the central Icelandic library system, Gegnir. The bibliography is dynamic in the sense that a revised edition appears regularly. Figures presented here date from 16 April this year.
The bibliography records only works published from 1999 and onwards. Information about published books from earlier years is available from Statistics Iceland’s Web site, covering the period 1965–2000. The figures are derived from previous version of the Icelandic National Bibliography. Figures from earlier years are not totally comparable to the present data, ranging from 1999–2006.
Statistics