As the number of Icelanders increases, one of the most prominent groups of immigrants comes from an unlikely source.
RÚV reports that at the close of 2012, the number of people living in Iceland totaled 321,890, an increase of 1,230 for the last quarter of that year alone. Of these, 205,740 live in Reykjavík or surrounding area – roughly twice the number of those living in the rest of the country.
Immigration appears to be taking another trend. There are 21,470 residents with foreign citizenship in Iceland, but this is down from over 25,000 at the beginning of 2012..
Speaking of people leaving the country, when it comes to Icelanders moving abroad, Scandinavia is the top destination. 430 of the 650 Icelandic citizens who left the country moved to Denmark, Norway or Sweden. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the most popular destination for non-Icelandic citizens to move to was Poland. Poles comprise the largest ethnic minority in Iceland.
In fact, there were 360 Poles among the 970 immigrants who arrived in the last quarter. The second largest group, however, were Americans – about 70 people from the US moved to Iceland during the same period.
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