The Icelandic economy in numbers

Key indicators and our analysis. The figures come from official data, most of them through Iceland Economic Signals.

Indicators

As of 7 October 2026 · charts from January 2024

GDP growth, last 4 quarters

+1.8%

against the year before; bars show single quarters · Q2 2026

Unemployment, survey

6.8%

seasonally adjusted; survey collection changed from November 2025 · August 2026

Registered unemployment

3.9%

Directorate of Labour · August 2026

Job vacancies

1.4%

share of jobs · Q2 2026

Household card spending

−2.6%

real change, year on year · August 2026

Policy rate

8.0%

Central Bank of Iceland · October 2026

Analysis

27 October 2026

Troms added more winter guest nights than all of Iceland

Since winter 2016/17, foreign guest nights from October to March have risen by 454,000 in Troms and 433,000 in Iceland. Iceland remains much larger, but its head start no longer guarantees faster growth.

Read the analysis →

This work is produced with the help of AI and published by Svartigaldur.