On the occasion of the International World Book and Copyright Day on the 23rd of April, Statistics Iceland publishes information on the number of books published in Iceland in the years 1999–2007. In the year 2007, 1,533 book titles were published (including booklets of 5–48 pages). This equals 4.9 books per 1,000 inhabitants. The number of books published has declined somewhat in recent years, or by 153 titles when at highest in the year 2000 (see Figures 1 and 2).
Most books published are works written by Icelandic authors or written in Icelandic. In 2007, seven books of every ten books published were in the Icelandic language. The share of translation has though gradually increased in recent years. Translations were 22 per cent of all books published in 1999. Six out of every ten translations are translations from English.
In 2007, 77 per cent of titles published were generalities, some 18 per cent were books for children and youth, and five per cent were textbooks (see Figure 3).
Statistics Iceland publishes annually information about published books. The figures are derived from the Icelandic National Bibliography which is compiled by the National Library and University Library of Iceland. The inventory is based on information contained in the central Icelandic library system, Gegnir. The bibliography is dynamic in the sense that a revised edition appears regularly. Figures presented here date from the 16th of April this year.
The bibliography records only works published from 1999 and onwards. Information about published books from earlier years is available from Statistics Iceland’s Web site, covering the period 1965–2000. The figures are derived from the previous version of the Icelandic National Bibliography. Figures from earlier years are not totally comparable to the present data, ranging from 1999–2007.