Iceland comes in sixth place on a list from 2014 of countries showing the percentage of the native-born population living abroad with almost 12 per cent of its natives reciting abroad. Ireland has the highest percentage of people living abroad out of all OECD countries. Comparing to the other Nordics, Finland comes in 12th, Denmark 16th, Norway 23rd and finally Sweden with the least natives living abroad of the Nordic countries warming the 25th place
According to the national registry on January 1st in 20110, three years after the financial crash in the country Icelandic individuals living abroad were 67.988. That seems a high number when you look at how many people lived in the country; 317.630. Those numbers not only include individuals with Icelandic citizenship but also people from abroad that have temporarily recited in Iceland because of work for example. When looking at the nationalities of those that have moved a way, and where they are born, 36.202 out of those 67.988 had Icelandic citizenship and when you look at where they are born 27.267 are born in Iceland. Norway seems to be the promise land for many Icelanders, according to the residential registry in 2010, 7.488 “Icelanders” lived there. According to the Norwegian Statistic 5.283 Icelandic citizens lived there.
Ireland holds the first place with roughly one in six Irish-born people residing in another country, reflecting the enduring impact the global financial crisis has had on the country. Emigration has fallen slightly in Ireland but remains high with 35,300 people leaving in the 12 months to April 2015, a 13 per cent drop on the previous year. New Zealand (14.1 per cent), Portugal (14.0 per cent) and Mexico (12.2 per cent) also have high percentages of their native-born populations living abroad.