NUTS-3 IS001 · Iceland
Höfuðborgarsvæði
Its Opportunity Index of 49.1/100 is mid-table of EU regions, led by economic growth and livability. On quality of life it ranks strongest for clean environment (92.7th EU percentile) and weakest for safety (42.3th).
Mandate pillar profile · EU percentiles (screener dimensions)
Labour market100
Demographic outlook98
Energy cost95
Air quality92
Governance91
Digital readiness89
Talent & skills75
Growth momentum74
Quality of life73
Connectivity32
Each bar is this region's EU percentile on a screener pillar (higher = better for siting; cost & energy are inverted so cheap scores high). These are the exact weights you tune in the Site Screener.
Opportunity Index · composite triage (experimental)
49.1
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 3/4 pillars
Growth74
Livability73.3
Market access0
Economic scale—
Equal-weighted mean of four EU-percentile pillars (deliberately orthogonal: growth=trend, livability=quality, market=distance-weighted demand proxy, scale=absolute GDP). Experimental — a screening triage, not investment advice.
Connectivity Index · transit · air · market access (experimental)
31.7
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density45
Airport access50
Market access0
Public-transport stop density, proximity to a major airport, and gravity access to surrounding economic mass — each EU-percentile-ranked. Higher = better-connected. Experimental.
Talent & Human Capital Index · skills base (experimental)
74.5
/ 100 · higher = deeper skills base than more EU regions · 4/4 facets
Young tertiary67
Lifelong learning96
Knowledge workers64
Scientists & engineers71
Young tertiary attainment (25–34), adult lifelong learning, knowledge-worker share and scientists & engineers — each EU-percentile-ranked. Higher = deeper talent pool. Experimental.
Clean-Air Score · air-quality livability (experimental)
91.7
/ 100 · higher = cleaner air than more EU regions · 3/3 pollutants
PM2.53.8 µg/m³
PM1010 µg/m³
NO27.3 µg/m³
PM2.5, PM10 & NO2 annual means from official monitoring networks, inverted (lower pollution = higher) and EU-percentile-ranked. Higher = cleaner air; ground-level ozone is shown separately. Experimental.
Quality of Life · composite (experimental)
73.3
/ 100 · EU-relative · 6/7 pillars
Economy—
Jobs74.5
Education81
Health82
Safety42.3
Connectivity67
Environment92.7
Equal-weighted percentile across 6 pillars vs all EU NUTS-3; lower-is-better indicators (crime, unemployment, mortality) inverted. Experimental — regional screening only.
Growth momentum · trend analytics
74
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 3/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
—
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
—
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
—
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
—
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
+1.3%
CAGR
Employment rate
+3.5 pp
5-yr change
Unemployment
-1.0 pp
5-yr change
Compound annual growth to the latest available year vs all EU NUTS-3; GDP is nominal EUR (“vs country avg” removes most national inflation). Screening signal, not a forecast.
Trends · 2014–2025
Population
249,0542025
2.0% 1y 1.3% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 50
Unemployment rate
3.5%2024
0.0% 1y 0.0% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 28
All indicators · 55 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Labour market
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source)
88.1%
2025 · EU pctl 100 · NUTS-2 src
Youth unemployment rate (15–24)
9.5%
2025 · EU pctl 34 · NUTS-2 src
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.5%
2024 · EU pctl 28
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
152,600
2024 · EU pctl 61
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP
2.5%
2024 · EU pctl 74 · NUTS-2 src
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total)
5.6%
2025 · EU pctl 73 · NUTS-2 src
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE)
2.0%
2023 · EU pctl 80 · NUTS-2 src
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64
46.1%
2025 · EU pctl 88 · NUTS-2 src
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool)
44.8%
2025 · EU pctl 67 · NUTS-2 src
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks)
27.3%
2025 · EU pctl 96 · NUTS-2 src
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force)
25.7%
2025 · EU pctl 64 · NUTS-2 src
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force)
10.2%
2025 · EU pctl 71 · NUTS-2 src
Digital
Households with internet access
98.4%
2021 · EU pctl 89 · NUTS-2 src
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
3,483,746
2023 · EU pctl 81
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants
639 /1k pop
2024 · EU pctl 72 · NUTS-2 src
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
896
CURRENT · EU pctl 50
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
360
CURRENT · EU pctl 45
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
55
CURRENT · EU pctl 50
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
CURRENT · EU pctl 15
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
166,301
2025 · EU pctl 52
Population aged 65+
38,312
2025 · EU pctl 32
Population aged under 15
44,441
2025 · EU pctl 61
Median age of population
37.3 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 1
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
23.0%
2025 · EU pctl 1
Crude rate of total population change
20.2 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 98
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
15.4 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 94
Crude birth rate
11.4 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 99
Crude death rate
6.6 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 1
Live births
2,823
2024 · EU pctl 68
Deaths
1,636
2024 · EU pctl 24
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
49.8%
2025 · EU pctl 6
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.58
2024 · EU pctl 85
Population density (persons per km²)
239 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 69
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
423,254
2100 · EU pctl 76
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate)
828 /100k
2021 · EU pctl 10 · NUTS-2 src
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate)
224 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 41 · NUTS-2 src
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.6 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 87
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
41.8 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 77
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
423 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 83
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,386 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 79
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants
24 /M pop
2021 · EU pctl 7 · NUTS-2 src
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.63
2022 · EU pctl 53
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.43
2022 · EU pctl 56
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.60
2022 · EU pctl 88
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.65
2022 · EU pctl 57
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
1.27
2022 · EU pctl 100
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.088/kWh
2024-S2 · EU pctl 5
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
100 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 28
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
0 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 0
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
158 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 96
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
16 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 93
Environment
PM10 (coarse particulate matter) annual mean concentration — mean across EEA air-quality monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
10
2024 · EU pctl 6
NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) annual mean concentration — a traffic / combustion pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
7
2024 · EU pctl 15
O3 (ground-level ozone) annual mean concentration — a summer-smog pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data).
28
2024 · EU pctl 1
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other Iceland regions