It appears that a similar number of people will move away from Iceland this year as in 2010; more than 2,000 people left the country in excess of those who moved here last year and during the first nine months of 2011, 1,400 people moved away from Iceland.
A container vessel moving people’s household inventory between countries. Archive photo by Páll Stefánsson.
This equals five people on average leaving the country every day. Over 60 percent of those who move away from Iceland are between the ages 20 and 40, Morgunbladid reports.
Since the banking collapse in October 2008, more than 8,000 people have moved away in excess of those moving to the country, which is a similar number as the combined population of Ísafjördur, Höfn and the municipality Nordurthing.
Kristján Thórdur Snaebjarnarson, chairman of the Union of Icelandic Electrical Workers (Rafís), said it is serious if young and educated people are abandoning the country, calling for increased economic growth and job opportunities to turn this development around.
Snaebjarnarson said that in the past two years around 400 members of Rafís requested confirmation of their journeymen certification so that they can submit it abroad. He doesn’t know how many of them actually moved but stated that this is an indication that educated people are leaving the country.
ESA
