Geography Quiz Arcade

Iceland 🇮🇸

Iceland is a country in Europe with a population of 372,899. Its capital is Reykjavík. The official currency is ISK, and the main languages are Icelandic.

Quick facts

  • Capital: Reykjavík
  • Continent: Europe
  • Population: 372,899
  • Area: 103,000 km²
  • Density: 3.6 people per km²
  • Currency: ISK
  • Languages: Icelandic
  • ISO code: IS

Where Iceland sits

Iceland 🇮🇸 is one of 46 countries in Europe, with its capital at Reykjavík. It covers 103,000 square kilometres — 106th in the world — and is home to about 372,899 people, 174th globally.

The countries it shares a continent with include Russia, Germany, United Kingdom, France and Italy. If you are learning geography region by region — which works far better than alphabetically, because memory for places is spatial — those are the ones to learn alongside it.

How Iceland compares

Raw figures are hard to hold on their own, so it helps to anchor them. In population, Iceland sits closest to Belize and Bahamas. In land area, its nearest counterparts are South Korea and Guatemala.

At 3.6 people per square kilometre it is far below the world average of 59.4. It ranks higher by area than by population, so it is more spacious than its population alone suggests.

Icelandic is listed as official in Iceland alone. The ISK is used by Iceland and no one else.

To see Iceland next to every other country, sort the country rankings by population, area or density; its currency and languages are listed alongside every other country's in world currencies and world languages.

How to remember Iceland

Reykjavík means 'smoky bay', named after the steam rising from hot springs that early settlers saw. Fire and ice: the flag has both, a red cross of volcanic fire inside white ice on a blue sea.

The flag of Iceland: blue, white and red

🇮🇸 The flag is a blue flag with a red Nordic cross outlined in white. The colours stand for the island's volcanic fires (red), its snow and ice fields (white) and the ocean (blue). The off-centre Nordic cross is shared with Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland.

Region and neighbours

Iceland is an island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, just south of the Arctic Circle, between Greenland and Norway. As an island country it has no land neighbours.

Three facts about Iceland

  1. Iceland's parliament, the Althing, was founded in 930 and is one of the oldest parliaments in the world.
  2. The island sits on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where two tectonic plates are pulling apart, which is why it has so many volcanoes and hot springs.
  3. Reykjavík is the northernmost capital of a sovereign country, and most homes in Iceland are heated with geothermal water.

Sources: Wikipedia: Iceland, Wikipedia: Flag of Iceland, Wikipedia: Reykjavík, CIA World Factbook.

Quiz yourself on Iceland

Quizzes that include Iceland

Three angles are worth covering for any country — where it is, what its flag looks like, and what its capital is. For Iceland those are:

Doing all three for one continent before moving on is far more efficient than learning flags globally, then capitals globally, then the map.

Read more about Iceland

Nearby countries

Frequently asked questions

What are the colours of the Iceland flag?

The flag of Iceland is a blue flag with a red Nordic cross outlined in white. The colours stand for the island's volcanic fires (red), its snow and ice fields (white) and the ocean (blue). The off-centre Nordic cross is shared with Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland.

Which countries border Iceland?

None. Iceland is an island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, just south of the Arctic Circle, between Greenland and Norway, so it has no land borders with other countries.

How can I remember the capital of Iceland?

Reykjavík means 'smoky bay', named after the steam rising from hot springs that early settlers saw. Fire and ice: the flag has both, a red cross of volcanic fire inside white ice on a blue sea.