Iceland is singular and unique, of that we are sure. Maybe that is because its location, remote and isolated from the rest of Europe, but they have perfectly preserved their culture and self-identity. All of this mix provide this list of Iceland Quirky Facts you are just about to discover!
- Icelandic people like to flaunt their democracy as it was the first one in the world. Our parliament was settled more than 1000 years ago.
- There are no ants!! Bus instead there are 2 sheep for each person… more than 600.000 sheep! People find this Iceland Quirky Facts quite lovely.
- Geysir is one of the few Icelandic words we export to the rest of the world, as it is something native from this country.
- With a literate population of 99’9%, it is not rare that Iceland is the country with most books per capita in the world. Also, almost everyone speaks English. There are no dubbing in films or cartoons and Danish and English teaching is mandatory from 11 years old.
- We don’t have an army, neither military nor air forces since 1859. However, we obviously have police and coastguards. There was a military base from United Stated until 2006 in Keflavik.
- It is one of the countries in the world with longer lifespan. Women live in average 81 years while men live 76 years. Maybe the clear air and peaceful life have something to do here?
- Iceland is one of the countries with more single mothers in the world. 66% of women get pregnant outside marriage. Open-minded people and government support help the birth rate to be really high and young girls to be single with children.
- It is one of the few countries that have a genetic data base from all its population. Also, we are one of the most genetically homogenous countries in the world and we have genealogical databases from more than 6 centuries ago. So we basically know all our second cousins and extended family!
- We are one of the safest countries in the world and our population is one of the happiest of the planet, regarding the living standards
- Beer was banned until 1989 –luckily we sorted out this problem!
- Our water is so pure and clean that it doesn’t need to be treated before human use.
- We don’t have water heaters at home; hot water comes straight from Geysers and hot springs. That’s why you smell sulphide each time you turn on the hot water tab!It is part of our Iceland quirky facts but it is weirder when you actually smell it.
- Icelandic population are just a big family, so the directory is listed by name, instead of surname. We don’t use the surnames a lot, and it only indicates your father’s name. This way, male surname is finished by –son (ie. Jónsson) and female surnames are ended in –dóttir (ie. jónsdottir)
- Only 0,07% is arable land and 11% of its territory if covered by glaciers. And what’s most unique, there are only a few trees and they were planted by men.
- Reykjavik is the Northernmost capital in the world and more than 60% of the total population of Iceland lives in the capital. We have 24 hours of daylight during summer but only 3 or 4 hours in winter months.
Iceland Quirky Facts That Will Awe You
- Want more Iceland Quirky Facts? well, When asked a few years ago, 54% of Icelandic people affirmed elves do not exist, while 8% of them believe in them. However, we have thousands of tiny houses in our gardens for them and even infrastructure projects avoid moving rocks, as elves are supposed to live there.
- From a geological point of view, Iceland is one of the youngest countries in the world, with only 25 million of years.
