Immigrants in Iceland were 24,442 1 January 2012, 8.0% of the population. The number of immigrants fell from 1 January 2011, when they were 8.1% of the population. At the same time the number of second generation immigrants rose from 2,582 to 2,876. 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. A person with foreign background has one parent of foreign origin.
Immigrants by country of birth
People born in Poland were by far the most numerous group of immigrants. In 2012, 9,228 immigrants or 36.3% of the total immigrant population were born in Poland. Other large immigrant groups were born in Lithuania (1,421) and in the Philippines (1,363).
Sex ratio
Sex ratio, the number of males per 1,000 females, has fluctuated in recent years among immigrants. In 1996 there were 607 males per 1,000 females but in 2007 there were 1,353 males per 1,000 females. This ratio fell back to 920 males per 1,000 females on 1 January 2012.
On 1 January 2012, 66.9% first and second generation immigrants were living in the capital region. The highest proportion of immigrants is in the Westfjords where 13.4% of the population is first and second generation immigrants, while the lowest proportion is in the Northeast where only 4.8% of the population are immigrants or second generation immigrants.
Statistics