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Iceland: Countries
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Despite its name, Iceland is very mild for a country at that latitude owing to the warming effect of the Atlantic Gulf Stream. The weather is often compared with that of New England (though the winter winds can be bitter). However the rapidly changing weather has given rise to the local saying: 'If you don't like the weather, wait fifteen minutes'! It's the kind of place where it's not unusual to get rained on and sunburnt at the same time - some Icelandic people ... believe that if the winter is hard and long then the summer will be good and warm.
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Iceland is located on a volcanically active region of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Volcanic eruptions have created vast uninhabitable lava tablelands with mountainous outcroppings. Elevations in the uplands, which cover about half the country, average from about 610 to 915 m (about 2,000 to 3,000 ft). Hvannadalshnúkur (2,119 m/6,952 ft), in the southeast, is the highest summit.
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Iceland is a welfare state and its population enjoys a wide range of benefits, for example old-age pensions, unemployment benefits and generous housing subsidies. Icelanders ... have access to excellent healthcare and education. These are supported by a type of progressive taxation, similar to that implemented in other Northern European states, making Iceland one of the most equalitarian countries in the world, according to the Gini coefficient. The Ministry of Health runs the healthcare system. The Ministry of Education, Science and Culture is responsible for the policies and methods that schools must use, and they issue the National Curriculum Guidelines. However, the playschools and the primary and lower secondary schools are funded and administered by the municipalities.
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A volcanic island, Iceland is Europe's westernmost country and home to the world's northernmost capital city, Reykjavík. Although glaciers cover more than a tenth of the island, the Gulf Stream and warm southwesterly winds moderate the climate—most residents occupy the country's southwest. Established in 930, the national assembly, or Althingi, is the world's oldest continuous parliament. Under the Danish crown for more than 500 years, the country became a republic in 1944. Almost all of Iceland's electricity and heating come from hydroelectric power and geothermal water reserves. Explosive geysers, relaxing geothermal spas, glacier-fed waterfalls like Gullfoss (Golden Falls), and whale watching attract more than 270,000 visitors a year.
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The president of Iceland is a largely ceremonial office that serves as a diplomat, figurehead and head of state, but who can ... block a law voted by the parliament and put it to a national referendum. The current president is Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson. The head of government is the prime minister, who, together with the cabinet, takes care of the executive part of government. The cabinet is appointed by the president after general elections to Althing; however, this process is usually conducted by the leaders of the political parties, who decide among themselves after discussions which parties can form the cabinet and how its seats are to be distributed, under the condition that it has a majority support in Althing. Only when the party leaders are unable to reach a conclusion by themselves in reasonable time does the president exercise this power and appoint the cabinet himself. This has not happened since the republic was founded in 1944, but in 1942 the regent of the country (Sveinn Björnsson, who had been installed in that position by the Althing in 1941) did appoint a non-parliamentary government.
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Iceland is the fifth most productive country in the world based on GDP per capita at purchasing power parity. It is ... ranked second on the 2005 United Nations Human Development Index. The economy historically depended heavily on the fishing industry, which still provides almost 40% of export earnings and employs 8% of the work force. In the absence of other natural resources (except for abundant hydro-electric and geothermal power), Iceland’s economy is vulnerable to changing world fish prices. The economy remains sensitive to declining fish stocks as well as to drops in world prices for its main material exports: fish and fish products, aluminium, and ferrosilicon. Although the Icelandic economy still relies heavily on fishing it is constantly becoming less important as the travel industry and other service, technology, energy intensive and various other industries grow.
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