Immigrants in Iceland were 25,693 1 January 2011, 8.1% of the population. The number of immigrants fell from 1 January 2010, when they were 8.2% of the population. At the same time the number of second generation immigrants rose from 2,254 in 2010 to 2,582 1 January 2011. An immigrant is a person born abroad with two foreign born parents and four foreign born grandparents, whereas a second generation immigrant is born in Iceland having two immigrant parents.

Immigrants by country of birth
In 2011, 9,463 immigrants or 36.8% of the total immigrant population were born in Poland, the largest group of immigrants in Iceland. Other large immigrant groups were born in Lithuania (1,471) and in the Philippines (1,341). 

 
More females among immigrants
On 1 January 2011 female immigrants exceeded the number of male immigrants for the first time since 2006. The sex ratio, the number of males per 1,000 females, has fluctuated from being 607 males per 1,000 females in 1996 to 1,353 males per 1,000 females in 2007. In 2011 the sex ratio was 957 males per 1,000 females.

Granting of Icelandic citizenship
In 2010, 450 individuals were granted an Icelandic citizenship, a decline from 2009 when 728 individuals were naturalised. More females were granted an Icelandic citizenship in 2010 than males, or 265 females compared with 185 males.

The largest numbers of those who are granted Icelandic citizenship come from Europe. In 2010 the majority originated from Poland (50) and Serbia (27). Asians are the second largest group, with 67 who had formerly a Philippine citizenship and 39 Vietnamese.

Population by citizenship
On 1 January 2011, 21,143 foreign citizens were registered with domicile in Iceland. The highest proportion of foreign citizens is in the Southwest (Suðurnes) where 9.1% of the population are foreign nationals wile the lowest proportion is in the Northeast where only 3.6% of the population has a foreign citizenship.