Words by

Catharine Fulton

If you’ve ever wandered the streets of Reykjavík and thought “there sure are a lot of baby carriages around here!” it turns out you were making an astute observation. Icelanders are having a lot of babies!
According to new population data released by Statistics Iceland, the country saw a population increase of 0.7% in 2012, accounting for an increase of 2,282 people. Births added 4,533 people to the population (2,317 boys and 2,216 girls), while 1,952 people died. It’s the circle of life.
As seen in the colour-coded map above, the population wasn’t booming all over the country. The South-West and capital area experienced growth, but much of the North, East and West Fjords saw population decreases of up to 1%.