NUTS-3 IS001 · Iceland
Population
249,0542025
GDP
—
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.5%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
85.8%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,033.7 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
IS001 · IS002
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Landsbyggð (Opportunity 50). Runner-up: Höfuðborgarsvæði (49).
Why you might not pick Landsbyggð
Its weakest dimension is Connectivity (EU pctl 20) — Höfuðborgarsvæði may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Landsbyggð leads under all four archetype mandates — the recommendation is weight-stable.
Phase-2 diligence checklist
- Site-level grid connection capacity and power pricing (beyond country-grain energy data)
- Local incentives, tax regimes and permitting timelines
- Workforce depth for your specific roles (the talent pillar is a proxy)
- Real-estate availability, rents and land — public pan-EU data stops at the Nordics
This is a mandate-neutral read. To weight the pillars to your thesis, run these regions through the Site Screener — it ranks all 1,211 regions under your weights and exports the full PDF. First-pass macro screening, not investment advice.
Composite intelligence · 0–100 EU-percentile scores
Opportunity Indexscale + growth + access + structure
49.1
49.9
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
73.3
75.3
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
91.7
92.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
31.7
20.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
74.5
74.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
74.0
74.3
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Population
1.3% 5y
1.4% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.0% 5y
0.6% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
—
—
Population density
241 /km²
1 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 55 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Labour market
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
88.1%
88.1%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
9.5%
9.5%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.5%
3.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
152,600
85,400
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.5%
2.5%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
5.6%
5.6%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
2.0%
2.0%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
46.1%
46.1%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
44.8%
44.8%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
27.3%
27.3%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
25.7%
25.7%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.2%
10.2%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
98.4%
98.4%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
3,483,746
6,034,845
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
639 /1k
639 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
896
299
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
360
213
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
55
79
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
166,301
91,690
Population aged 65+
38,312
23,440
Population aged under 15
44,441
25,260
Median age of population
37.3 yrs
37.5 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
23.0%
25.6%
Crude rate of total population change
20.2 /1k
6.4 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
15.4 /1k
2.7 /1k
Crude birth rate
11.4 /1k
10.6 /1k
Crude death rate
6.6 /1k
6.9 /1k
Live births
2,823
1,488
Deaths
1,636
971
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
49.8%
53.1%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.58
1.54
Population density (persons per km²)
239 /km²
1 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
423,254
200,214
Social
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.8 yrs
82.8 yrs
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
828 /100k
828 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
224 /100k
224 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.6 /100k
2.1 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
41.8 /100k
5.0 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
423 /100k
97.5 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,386 /100k
330 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
24 /M
24 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.63
1.63
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.43
1.43
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.60
1.60
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.65
1.65
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
1.27
1.27
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.088/kWh
€0.088/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
100 m
762 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
0 days/yr
0 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
158 days/yr
240 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
16 days/yr
6 days/yr