Alongside the publication of Q2 2022 figures of national accounts, Statistics Iceland publishes first preliminary figures* for the year 2021, but provisional GDP figures based on the quarterly accounts were published on 28 February 2022. According to preliminary annual figures for 2021, GDP amounted to 3,251 billion ISK, a 4.4% increase in volume from the previous year. Considering a 1.7% population growth in 2022, GDP per capita increased by 2.7% in 2021.
Revised GDP figures for 2019-2020
The general rule for revising national accounts figures is that when publishing annual figures, in February and August, the results of the last three years are open for a revision. Older figures are considered final, but time series further back in time can be revised if necessary, e.g. due to changes in methodology. In parallel with the publication of preliminary results for 2021, the results of national accounts figures have been revised for the years 2019 and 2020.
Employment by economic activity, time series back to 1991
Statistics Iceland now publishes continuous time series of employment statistics according to national accounts standards for the period from 1991 to 2022, on an annual and quarterly basis. The data covers employees and the self-employed, classified by economic activity. In 2018, Statistics Iceland published employment statistics according to national accounts standards for the first time for the years 2008-2017, but the time series now go back to 1991. From 1991 to 2021, the number of employed persons in Iceland has increased by 48.9%, the number of jobs has increased by 45.3% in the same period, but the total number of hours worked has increased considerably less or by 22.9%.
Employment by economic activity is based on national accounts standards and is intended to give a complete picture of the labour force of each economic activity. It is produced by integrating information from many sources, such as labour force survey (LFS), the Icelandic survey on wages, earnings and labour costs (ISWEL) along with register data from tax returns and current income.
*Around two months after the end of the reference year, Statistics Iceland publishes the estimated GDP for the fourth quarter of the reference year as well as the first provisional figures for annual GDP. This is the sum of quarterly measurements, according to the expenditure approach. The first results defined as preliminary figures are published around 8 months after the end of the reference year. The results of the national accounts are defined as preliminary figures until around 26 months after the end of the reference year.