The latest figures from Statistics Iceland show that on average, ten people moved out of the country every day of the past two years.
In the first three quarters of 2010, 5,700 people left the country, while 4,100 moved to it, meaning of course that 1,600 people left Iceland in the first three-fourths of the year alone.
This works out to about 7 people – or two families – leaving Iceland every day in the first nine months of 2010. If we then factor in the 4,835 people who moved out of Iceland in 2009, we have 10 individuals moving out of the country, every day, for the past two years.
This has implications for Iceland’s economy, both negative and positive. While this means fewer taxpayers, and thus less revenue for the government to draw from, it also means that two or three apartments become available every day. This naturally brings the demand for housing on the market down, which can lower prices.
At the same time, people leaving the country has a similar effect on available jobs. The Central Bank has predicted that unemployment will begin to decline in June of next year.
It should also be noted that if the 2010 trend continues unchanged, and 7 people do leave Iceland every day, this is still an almost 50% reduction in the number of people leaving: the 2009 average was 13 people leaving the country every day.
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