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Iceland

Northern Europe Schengen ISK

IS ยท ISL ยท #106 ยท 12 cities

Nomad score 51/100 Compare

Governance at a glance

Government
Unitary parliamentary republic
UN member
Yes
Independent
Yes
CPI score (2026)
77/100
Press freedom (2025)
81.4/100 #17
Electoral democracy (2025)
0.807
HDI
0.972
Regional blocs
EFTA

Government and leaders

Government type
Unitary parliamentary republic
Leaders
TitleName
President of IcelandHalla Tรณmasdรณttir
Prime Minister of IcelandKristrรบn Frostadรณttir

Safety and security

Homicide rate (2023)
1.3/100k
Traffic deaths (2019)
2.0/100k

World governance indicators

Percentile rank among all countries

Political stability (2023) 95th pct
Rule of law (2023) 97th pct
Corruption control (2023) 92th pct
Government effectiveness (2023) 93th pct
Regulatory quality (2023) 87th pct
Voice and accountability (2023) 94th pct
Source: World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI). Percentile rank among all countries (0=lowest, 100=highest).

Corruption perceptions index

CPI score (2026)
77 / 100
Interpretation
Low corruption
Source: Transparency International / Corruption Insights API. Higher scores = less corruption.

Democracy index

Electoral (2025)
0.807
Liberal
0.720
Participatory
0.565
Deliberative
0.703
Egalitarian
0.728
Source: V-Dem (Varieties of Democracy), CC-BY-SA. Scale: 0 (least democratic) to 1 (most democratic).

Press freedom index

Overall score (2025)
81.4 / 100
Global rank
#17 / 180
Rank change
+1 vs previous year
RSF zone
UE Balkans
Political #15
82.2
Economic #21
65.7
Legal #25
81.1
Social #16
82.9
Safety #7
94.8
Source: Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Higher scores = better press freedom. Five dimensions of press freedom tracked over time. Scores before 2013 used a different RSF scale (lower was better) and are not shown.

Press freedom historical data

Press freedom historical data
Year Score Rank Political Economic Legal Social Safety
2025 81.4 17 82.2 65.7 81.1 82.9 94.8
2024 80.1 18 79.9 65.1 79.1 83.3 93.2
2023 83.2 18 86.0 68.4 82.4 87.0 92.2
2022 82.7 15 86.2 65.6 82.7 87.5 91.5
2021 84.6 16 Data unavailable Data unavailable Data unavailable Data unavailable 100.0
2020 84.9 15 Data unavailable Data unavailable Data unavailable Data unavailable 100.0
2019 85.3 14 Data unavailable Data unavailable Data unavailable Data unavailable 40.4
2018 85.9 13 Data unavailable Data unavailable Data unavailable Data unavailable 100.0
2017 87.0 10 Data unavailable Data unavailable Data unavailable Data unavailable 100.0
2016 84.7 19 Data unavailable Data unavailable Data unavailable Data unavailable 100.0
2015 86.1 21 Data unavailable Data unavailable Data unavailable Data unavailable 100.0
2014 91.5 8 Data unavailable Data unavailable Data unavailable Data unavailable Data unavailable
2013 91.5 9 Data unavailable Data unavailable Data unavailable Data unavailable Data unavailable
Source: Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Press Freedom Index, 0-100 scale (higher is better). Scores before 2013 used a different RSF scale (lower was better) and are not shown.

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