One in five Icelanders under 15

Iceland has the second-highest percentage of children under the age of fifteen in Europe, according to a new report published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union (EU).

In 2014, an estimated 67,000 Icelanders were under the age of fifteen. This works out as 20.5% of the total population. Only Ireland, with an under-15 population share of 22.0%, comes higher than Iceland in this ranking.

Iceland far above European average

In fact, the 2014 figures show that Ireland and Iceland are the only two countries where children under fifteen make up over 20% of the population.

The average figure for under-15 population in the 32 European countries studied (the 28 Members of the EU, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) is 15.9%, almost five percentage points lower than Iceland’s individual figure. Germany brings up the rear in this classification, with just 13.1% of its roughly 81 million inhabitants aged under fifteen.

Fall in percentage of children by 2050

The Eurostat study predicts a slight overall fall in the percentage of under-15s in Europe by 2050. This fall will also affect Iceland, as the percentage of children under fifteen in Iceland is expected to be 18.7% by 2050. This will still however put Iceland in second place in Europe, behind Ireland (19.4%).

The full Eurostat press release is available here.