Environment - current issues:
water pollution from fertilizer runoff; inadequate wastewater
treatment
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Air Pollution, Biodiversity, Climate Change,
Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification,
Environmental Protection through Criminal Law, Hazardous Wastes,
Kyoto Protocol, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban,
Oil Pollution, Ozone Layer Protection, Persistent Organic
Pollutants, Ship Pollution, Transboundary Air Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic
Pollutants, Environmental Modification, Marine Life Conservation
Geography - note:
strategic location between Greenland and Europe; westernmost
European country; Reykjavik is the northernmost national capital in
the world; more land covered by glaciers than in all of continental
Europe
People Iceland
Population:
280,798 (July 2003 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 22.7% (male 32,902; female 30,952)
15-64 years: 65.4% (male 92,519; female 91,000)
65 years and over: 11.9% (male 14,973; female 18,452) (2003 est.)
Median age:
total: 34 years
male: 33.2 years
female: 34.7 years (2002)
Population growth rate:
0.49% (2003 est.)
Birth rate:
14.13 births/1,000 population (2003 est.)
Death rate:
6.95 deaths/1,000 population (2003 est.)