Presentation for Intro to Econ

1. FILMING LOCATION:
ICELAND
Presented By: Logan Holderness

2. Why Iceland?

3. GEOGRAPHY
• Island located in the northern Atlantic Ocean
• Smaller than the state of Kentucky
• “More than 13% is covered by snowfields and glaciers, and most of the
people live in the 7% of the island that is made up of fertile coastland”
("Iceland", 2018).
• Very volcanic region

4. CLIMATE OF ICELAND
The climate of Iceland is surprisingly mild compared to other islands
located near the Arctic Circle ("Iceland", 2018). This makes it an ideal
location for retrieving amazing shots of the beautiful land without having
to deal with hazardous conditions.

5. GOVERNMENT
STRUCTURE
• Parliamentary Republic
• Current Prime Minister:
Katrín Jakobsdóttir’s
("Current government",
2018)
• Generous social welfare
system
Althing – The parliament building of Iceland ("Althing",
2018)

6. CURRENCY
Iceland uses the Kronur as currency. The exchange rate is currently valued
at 0.0083 USD to 1 Icelandic Kronur. Meaning that 100 USD is equal to
11,987 Icelandic Krona.

7. GDP
In 2017, the GDP in Iceland was 23.91 billion USD. Comparing this to 14.29
billion USD in 2012, Iceland’s economy has been on a rise and has greatly
improved in just a matter of five years. The most recent data shows the
Iceland GDP growth rate at a solid 2.6% in 2018 ("Iceland GDP Annual
Growth Rate", 2019).

8. GDP PER CAPITA
“The Gross Domestic Product per capita in Iceland was last recorded at 49,910.01 US
dollars in 2017. The GDP per Capita in Iceland is equivalent to 395 percent of the
world's average” ("Iceland GDP Per Capita", 2019). This places Iceland very close behind
the U.S. GDP per capita at 53,128.54 US dollars. This is demonstrative of Iceland’s
flourishing economy and general happiness and well being of it’s population.

9. WEALTH DISTRIBUTION IN THE POPULATION
• Much more evenly distributed than wealth in the United States
• As of 2010 – the richest one percent in the United States were estimated to own 35% of
the country’s wealth, the one percent in Iceland only owned an estimated 23%
(Grapevine.is, "Iceland's Top One Percent Owns Quarter Of Total Wealth", 2015)
• Currently – richest ten percent in Iceland own about 73% of the country’s total wealth
(Grapevine.is, "Iceland's Top One Percent Owns Quarter Of Total Wealth", 2015).

10. ENEMIES OF
ICELAND
Many decades ago, there was a
dispute over the ownership of a
volcanic island (or more so the oil
reserves around it) called Rockall.
This dispute involved Iceland,
Ireland, Denmark and the U.K (Duffy,
2017).
Eventually the U.K claimed this as
part of their territory. Although
Iceland and Ireland were not in
agreement, this has not caused too
much unrest between the nations,
Aside from this dispute, Iceland has
no real enemies.

11. LABOR FORCE
• Most recent unemployment rate in Iceland down to only 1.7%
• Labor Force Participation Rate was at 80.6% in December of 2018
• Most recent wage growth was 3.2%
• Average retirement age in Iceland is 67 years old for both men and
women.
• ("Iceland Labor Force Participation Rate", 2019).

12. INFLATION RATE
“The annual inflation rate in Iceland decreased to 3.4% in January of 2019
from 3.7% in December as prices slowed for housing and utilities (4.9% vs
5.6% in December); transport (3.7% vs 4.8%); alcoholic beverages and
tobacco (3.1% vs 3.4%) and continued to fall for communication (-9.1% vs
-9.7%) and education (-1.7% vs -2.5%). In contrast, prices rose faster for
food and non-alcoholic beverages (4.8% vs 4.7%); recreation and culture
(1.1% vs 0.9%); miscellaneous goods and services (2.4% vs 2.1%);
furnishing and household equipment (5% vs 4%); health (2.5% vs 1.8%)
and hotels, cafés and restaurants (2.9% vs 2.8%)” ("Iceland Inflation Rate",
2019).

13. INFRASTRUCTURE (TRANSPORT & UTILITIES)
• The infrastructure in Iceland is fairly extensive.
• There are over 12,000 Km of roads in Iceland, only about 3,000 Km of
with are paved.
• Iceland also contains 9 harbors and several airports, utilizing both
airplanes and ships for transportation and trade.
• There are no railroads in Iceland.
• ("Iceland - Infrastructure, power, and communications")

14. Exports
 The main export of Iceland is seafood,
namely fish, crustaceans, and aquatic
invertabrae
 These exports valued just over $172
million in 2017
 In total, exports from Iceland to the
United States along valued #339 million
during 2017
 ("Iceland Exports to the United States",
2019).
Imports
 Refined petroleum - $570 million
 Aluminum Oxide - $428 million
 Fish Oil - $22.9 million
 Coffee - $17.3 million
 Rolled Tobacco - $15 million
 (Pines, "Iceland's Top Commodity
Imports & Exports")

15. DEMOGRAPHICS
The Icelandic population is a very homogeneous mixture of Norse/Celtic descendants
at 94%. This means that only 6% of the population is of foreign origin ("Iceland", 2018).
Icelandic, English, Nordic languages, and German are widely spoken languages in
Iceland ("Iceland", 2018).

16. SO, WHY
ICELAND?
• Safe, beautiful landscapes to travel
and film.
• USD exchange rate is extremely high.
• Icelandic economy is booming and
general happiness and well-being are
extremely high.
• Great relations with the United States.
• Great infrastructure for transportation
and a very active workforce for
additional help/ casting.
• Many different types of beautiful
scenery in such a small country.
https://matadornetwork.com/destinations/europe/icelan
d/

17. WORKS CITED
 Althing. (2018, September 14). Retrieved February 3, 2019, from
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Althing
 Current government. (2018). Retrieved February 3, 2019, from
https://www.government.is/government/current-government/
 Duffy, R. (2017, April 17). Who owns Rockall? The history of the Atlantic dispute
between Ireland and the UK. Retrieved February 3, 2019, from
https://www.thejournal.ie/rockall-explainer-3333490-Apr2017/
 Grapevine.is. (2015, January 21). Iceland's Top One Percent Owns Quarter Of Total
Wealth. Retrieved February 3, 2019, from
https://grapevine.is/news/2015/01/21/icelands-top-one-percent-owns-quarter-of-
total-wealth/
 Iceland. (2018). Retrieved February 3, 2019, from
https://www.infoplease.com/world/countries/iceland
 Iceland. (n.d.). Retrieved February 3, 2019, from
https://matadornetwork.com/destinations/europe/iceland/
 Iceland Exports to the United States. (2019). Retrieved February 3, 2019, from
https://tradingeconomics.com/iceland/exports/united-states

18. WORKS CITED (CONT.)
 Iceland GDP Annual Growth Rate. (2019). Retrieved February 3, 2019, from
https://tradingeconomics.com/iceland/gdp-growth-annual
 Iceland GDP Per Capita. (2019). Retrieved February 3, 2019, from
https://tradingeconomics.com/iceland/gdp-per-capita
 Iceland Inflation Rate. (2019). Retrieved February 3, 2019, from
https://tradingeconomics.com/iceland/inflation-cpi
 Iceland - Infrastructure, power, and communications. (n.d.). Retrieved February 3,
2019, from https://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Europe/Iceland-
INFRASTRUCTURE-POWER-AND-COMMUNICATIONS.html
 Iceland Labor Force Participation Rate. (2019). Retrieved February 3, 2019, from
https://tradingeconomics.com/iceland//labor-force-participation-rate
 Pines, L. (n.d.). Iceland's Top Commodity Imports & Exports. Retrieved February 3,
2019, from https://commodity.com/iceland/#Icelands_Top_5_Commodity_Imports
 World, N. (2016, June 15). What Is Life Really Like In Iceland? Retrieved February 3,
2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN2LsQ9Y9gE