According to Statistics Iceland, the number of Icelandic citizens who have moved abroad has never been higher, reaching 3,120 in the first nine months of 2015. Morgunblaðið newspaper reported on the matter today.
At present, more people choose to emigrate from the country than immigrate into it, a rare occurrence. This has only happened five times since 1961: In 1970, 1995, 2009, 2010 and 2011, always following a recession.
According to Ásgeir Jónsson, docent of economics at the National University, statistics indicate that it is mostly people with university-level education that are moving abroad. “This time around, people are not emigrating due to an economic recession, the problem runs deeper,” he says pointing out that according to the Central Bank of Iceland’s (Seðlabanki Íslands) recent Financial Stability report most “economic indicators and premises for financial stability have changed for the better”. 2014 saw “low inflation, a virtually non-existent output gap, and a modest current account surplus”, a rare situation in Iceland’s economic history, according to the bank.
According to Statistics Iceland, the number of Icelandic citizens who have moved abroad has never been higher, reaching 3,120 in the first nine months of 2015. Morgunblaðið newspaper reported on the matter today.
At present, more people choose to emigrate from the country than immigrate into it, a rare occurrence. This has only happened five times since 1961: In 1970, 1995, 2009, 2010 and 2011, always following a recession.
According to Ásgeir Jónsson, docent of economics at the National University, statistics indicate that it is mostly people with university-level education that are moving abroad. “This time around, people are not emigrating due to an economic recession, the problem runs deeper,” he says pointing out that according to the Central Bank of Iceland’s (Seðlabanki Íslands) recent Financial Stability report most “economic indicators and premises for financial stability have changed for the better”. 2014 saw “low inflation, a virtually non-existent output gap, and a modest current account surplus”, a rare situation in Iceland’s economic history, according to the bank.
