Rural areas in Iceland are seeing a large decrease in population, particularly among younger people, according to Gunnlaugur A. Juliusson, Director for Economics and Information at the Federation of Municipalities.
Juliusson reports that within the last two years there has been a large number of people who have left the Icelandic countryside but only a small increase in the number of people moving to Reykjavik.
In the ten years prior to 2005, the number of people living in rural Iceland decreased overall by 20 per cent. The number of children and teenagers, or those aged 16 years and younger, decreased by 30 per cent.
Some areas have seen a dramatic drop with up to 60 per cent less young people living in the municipality in 2005 than were there in 1995.
New development projects and subsequent jobs have drawn people to larger towns in eastern Iceland, particularly to the Karahnjukar dam project and the Reydarfjordur aluminium smelter.
“This is the frightening trend that not many people talk about which goes hand in hand with population development,” said Juliusson. “Youngsters, who are supposed to take over, are decreasing much more than the formal population figures indicate.”