How Many Square Miles Is Iceland? (2026 Data)

Iceland is a little smaller than Kentucky, yet it holds Europe's largest glacier by volume,¹ a coastline of 3,783 miles² in the official table, and a sea area within its fishing limits about 7.4 times³ the size of the land. Only about a quarter² of the country lies below 656 feet (200 m), where nearly all settlement lies,⁴ while more than a third rises above 1,969 feet.

Size shapes almost everything a visitor meets: how long the drive around the island takes, how much of it is ice, rock or grass, and why 63.9%⁵ of residents live in a capital region that covers about 1%⁶ of the land. This report brings together Statistics Iceland's geographical tables, the Icelandic Institute of Natural History, peer-reviewed glacier research, the World Bank, the US Census Bureau and Iceland's Road and Coastal Administration to measure the country in square miles, miles and acres, with metric figures alongside.

Iceland's size in square miles

Statistics Iceland puts the country's total area at 103,000 km²², or about 39,769 square miles. The World Bank uses the same total, 103,000 km²⁷, and lists a land area of 100,830 km²⁷ (38,931 square miles) once lakes and rivers are taken out. A more detailed measurement by the National Land Survey, now part of the Icelandic Institute of Natural History, drew the coastline at the highest sea level from recent satellite and aerial images. On that line, the mainland covers about 102,593 km²⁸ (39,611 square miles), and islands larger than one hectare add about 109 km²⁸ (42 square miles). The same work put the centre of Iceland at 64°59′N, 18°35′W⁸, in the highlands north of Vatnajökull.

Converted to other units, 103,000 km² equals about 25.45 million acres³ or 10.3 million hectares³, which answers how many acres is Iceland. In square feet, the figure runs to about 1.11 trillion³. Around the land lies a much larger sea area: Iceland's fishing limits enclose 758,000 km²², about 292,665 square miles.

How many miles long is Iceland?

Iceland's northernmost mainland point is Rifstangi at 66°32.3′ N⁹ and its southernmost is Kötlutangi at 63°23.6′ N⁹. That is a span of just over three degrees of latitude, about 217 miles³ (349 km) from north to south. Counting islands, the country reaches from Kolbeinsey at 67°08.9′ N⁹ to Surtsey at 63°17.7′ N⁹. The Arctic Circle ran at 66°32.9′ N⁹ in 2000, just north of Rifstangi, so the mainland lies south of it.

How many miles wide is Iceland?

From Bjargtangar in the west, at 24°32.1′ W⁹, to Gerpir in the east, at 13°29.6′ W⁹, Iceland spans about 323 miles³ (519 km) measured along the 65th parallel.

How many miles of coastline does Iceland have?

The answer depends on how finely the shore is traced. Statistics Iceland's geographical table gives 6,088 km² of coastline, about 3,783 miles or 3,287 nautical miles, while its 2001–2002 yearbook gave 4,970 km¹⁰, about 3,088 miles. A National Land Survey engineer notes that any such figure depends on how the shoreline is defined, for example at high or low tide, and on the age of the images used.⁸

How much does Iceland grow each year?

Iceland sits on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where the North American and Eurasian plates pull apart by just under 2 cm¹¹ (about three-quarters of an inch) a year. The spreading is 14–18 mm¹¹ a year in the eastern volcanic zone and only 1–5 mm¹¹ in the western zone. That does not mean the island simply gets bigger: a University of Iceland geologist explains that new lava is roughly balanced by subsidence and erosion by rivers, the sea and glaciers, so the total area stays fairly stable.¹²

Iceland compared with US states and European countries

In US terms, Iceland falls between Kentucky and Indiana. The Census Bureau puts Kentucky's total area at 40,408 square miles¹³, so Iceland is about 98%³ of its size, while Indiana covers 36,420 square miles¹³. Virginia, at 42,775¹³, and Tennessee, at 42,144¹³, are slightly larger. Texas, at 268,596 square miles¹³, could hold Iceland about 6.8 times³.

Among European countries, Iceland is mid-sized. By the World Bank's surface-area figures it is less than half the size of the United Kingdom, which covers 243,610 km²⁷ (94,058 square miles), and about a sixth of Norway, at 624,500 km²⁷. It is larger than Hungary, Portugal, Austria and Ireland, which covers 70,280 km²⁷ (27,135 square miles), and more than twice the size of Denmark.

How much bigger is Greenland than Iceland?

Statistics Greenland gives its total area as 2,166,086 km²¹⁴, about 21.0 times³ the size of Iceland. Most of that is ice: Greenland's ice-free area is 410,449 km²¹⁴, still about 4.0 times³ Iceland's total. Statistics Greenland describes Greenland as the largest island in the world¹⁴, so the answer to "is Iceland the biggest island?" is no.

How much of Iceland is covered by glaciers

Statistics Iceland's land-cover table splits the country's 103,000 km² into four parts. Glaciers take 11,922 km²², or 11.6%³ of Iceland, about 4,603 square miles; the figure comes from a 1978 survey of glacier area. Vegetated land covers 23,805 km²² (23.1%) and lakes 2,757 km²² (2.7%). The largest part, 64,538 km²² or 62.7%, is classed as wasteland, land with little or no vegetation.

The ice has shrunk since that survey. Glaciers now cover about 10%¹⁵ of Iceland, according to a 2020 peer-reviewed review, which puts the loss since the end of the Little Ice Age, around 1890, at about 2,200 km²¹⁵ (849 square miles) and about 750 km²¹⁵ (290 square miles) since 2000, roughly 40 km²¹⁵ (15 square miles) a year. The underlying study in the journal Jökull put the remaining glacier area at 10,400 km²¹⁶ in 2019, 18%¹⁶ less than around 1890. Iceland's glaciers held about 3,400 km³¹⁵ of ice in 2019, enough to raise global sea level by about 9 mm¹⁵ if all of it melted.

Vatnajökull dominates. The Icelandic Institute of Natural History measured it at about 7,600 km²¹ (2,934 square miles) in 2023, making it Europe's largest glacier by volume, with about 3,000 km³¹ of ice in 2017. Langjökull followed at 820 km²¹, Hofsjökull at 795 km²¹, Mýrdalsjökull at 510 km²¹ and Drangajökull in the Westfjords at 136 km²¹. All five are smaller than in Statistics Iceland's older table, which listed Vatnajökull at 8,300 km²².

How much of Iceland is habitable

Height above sea level is the main limit on where people live. National Land Survey figures published by Statistics Iceland show that only 24,700 km²², about 24%³ of the country, lies below 656 feet (200 m), and a geographer writing for the University of Iceland notes that nearly all settlement is in this lowland band.⁴ Another 18,400 km²² lies between 200 and 400 m, and 22,200 km²² between 400 and 600 m. The largest band, 37,700 km²² or 36.6%², is higher than 1,969 feet (600 m). With a volume above sea level of about 50,000 km³¹², the average elevation of Iceland works out to about 0.5 km¹², roughly 1,640 feet.

Built-up land is a sliver of that lowland. In the land categories Iceland reports under the UN climate convention, settlements covered 454 km²¹⁷ (175 square miles) in 2024, about 0.44%³ of the country, up from 307 km²¹⁷ in 1990. Grassland is the largest category at 60,265 km²¹⁷, followed by other land at 29,495 km²¹⁷ and wetlands at 9,576 km²¹⁷.

People are even more concentrated than buildings. The seven municipalities of the capital region cover about 1,007 km²⁶, about 1% of Iceland, yet the region held 63.9%⁵ of the population in mid-2026. Reykjavík itself covers 273 km²⁶, so how many square miles is Reykjavik comes to about 105. As for how many municipalities in Iceland there are, Statistics Iceland counted 62¹⁸ on 1 January 2026. With about 396,500⁵ residents, Iceland has about 10.0 people per square mile³ (3.85 per km²); Eurostat ranks its density of 3.8 per km²¹⁹ the lowest of 35 European countries.

A quarter of the country is also under some form of nature protection. Statistics Iceland recorded 122²⁰ protected areas covering 26,677 km²²⁰ in 2020, about 25.9%³ of Iceland. The three national parks alone covered 15,097 km²²⁰ (5,829 square miles).

Iceland forest cover percentage

Forest is rare. The World Bank, using FAO data, puts Iceland's forest at 0.53%⁷ of its land area in 2023, up from 0.17%⁷ in 1990. Iceland's own land-use inventory, which uses its own forest definition, shows forest land growing from 963 km²¹⁷ in 1990 to 1,573 km²¹⁷ in 2024, a rise of 63%³. Farming land is limited too: the Iceland arable land percentage is 1.2%⁷, and all agricultural land makes up 16.2%⁷ of land area.

Lakes, rivers, mountains and islands

How many lakes in Iceland?

No official count of lakes was found, but their total area is known: lakes cover 2,757 km²², about 1,064 square miles. The largest is Þórisvatn, a reservoir whose area varies between 83 and 88 km²² with the seasons; the Institute of Natural History gives 86 km²²¹, about 33 square miles. Þingvallavatn, the largest natural lake, covers 83 km²²¹. Jökulsárlón, the glacier lagoon on the south coast, is the deepest at 248 m²¹ (814 feet), ahead of Öskjuvatn at 220 m²¹ (722 feet), a lake formed in 1874–75²¹.

The longest river is the Þjórsá, 230 km²² or about 143 miles, followed by the Jökulsá á Fjöllum at 206 km²² (128 miles), which drains the largest catchment, 7,750 km²²². Statistics Iceland's table lists the Ölfusá–Hvítá system at 185 km² and the Skjálfandafljót at 178 km². Measured by flow, the Ölfusá carries the most water, with a natural mean discharge of 440 m³ a second²².

Biggest mountain in Iceland

The highest summit is Hvannadalshnjúkur, at 2,110 m² or 6,923 feet. Bárðarbunga reaches 2,000 m² (6,562 feet), Kverkfjöll 1,920 m² and Snæfell in the east 1,833 m² (6,014 feet). Herðubreið rises to 1,682 m², Hekla to 1,491 m² and Esja, the mountain seen from Reykjavík, to 914 m² (2,999 feet). No official count of Iceland's mountains was found.

Rivers dropping off the highlands form tall waterfalls. Glymur, in the Botnsá river north of Reykjavík, is the highest in Statistics Iceland's list at 190 m² (623 feet), followed by Háifoss at 122 m² and Hengifoss at 110 m². Seljalandsfoss falls 65 m², Skógafoss 62 m², Dettifoss 44 m² and Gullfoss 32 m².

How many islands does Iceland have?

There is no official count. The National Land Survey's measurement found that all islands larger than one hectare, about 2.5 acres, add up to 109 km²⁸, or 42 square miles. The largest island in Statistics Iceland's list is Heimaey in the Westman Islands, at 13 km²² (5.0 square miles), followed by Hrísey in Eyjafjörður at 8 km²². Grímsey, off the north coast, covers 5 km²², and Surtsey about 2 km²².

How far Iceland is from other places

Greenland is Iceland's nearest neighbour. Statistics Iceland gives the shortest distance between the two coasts as 287 km², so how many miles from Iceland to Greenland comes to about 178. The Faroe Islands are 420 km² (261 miles) away, Scotland 798 km² (496 miles) and Norway 970 km² (603 miles).

Between cities the distances are longer. By our great-circle calculation, Reykjavík is about 888 miles³ from Nuuk, 929 miles³ from Dublin and 1,174 miles³ from London. For how many miles from New York to Iceland, the straight-line answer from Manhattan to Reykjavík is about 2,611 miles³, and Boston is about 2,431³.

How many miles to drive around Iceland

The Ring Road, Route 1, is the usual answer. Its commonly cited length of 1,321 km²³ fell by 12 km²⁴ when a new section near Höfn opened on 24 June 2026, which leaves about 813 miles³ (1,309 km). A full loop from Reykjavík on map routing is 828 miles²⁵ and about 20.6 hours²⁵ of driving without stops, and the Golden Circle loop from Reykjavík is 157 miles²⁵. The Road and Coastal Administration says the Ring Road has been fully paved since 2019²⁶.

Number of miles of road in Iceland

Statistics Iceland counted 12,950 km²⁷ of national roads in 2023, about 8,047 miles, a total that has barely changed since 2003. Of these, 6,113 km²⁷ (3,798 miles) were paved, 47.2%³ of the network, up from 33.4%³ in 2003. Parliament's 2026 review of the transport plan uses slightly different figures, about 12,900 km²⁸ with 5,961 km²⁸ paved, and counts 1,174²⁸ bridges, of which 632²⁸ are single-lane, including 29²⁸ on the Ring Road at the end of 2024. The Road and Coastal Administration estimates that 97%²⁶ of all traffic runs on paved roads. Paving varies by region: the Southern Peninsula is almost fully paved at 96.9%³, the Northwest only 33.3%³.

How many tunnels in Iceland?

The Road and Coastal Administration lists 12²⁹ road tunnels with a combined length of 64 km²⁹, about 40 miles. The longest is Héðinsfjarðargöng in the north, 11 km²⁹ in two sections, and the busiest is Hvalfjarðargöng north of Reykjavík, with 8,760²⁹ vehicles a day in 2024. Vaðlaheiðargöng, near Akureyri, charges a toll. On how much is the toll tunnel in Iceland: a single trip for a car under 3.5 tonnes costs ISK 2,216³⁰ from 2 March 2026, about $18³¹ at the Central Bank's rate of 15 September 2026.

What the numbers mean

Iceland is compact on a map but large for the number of people who live there. At about 39,769 square miles it is close to Kentucky in size, yet it has about 10.0 people per square mile³, and nearly two-thirds of them live in a capital region of about 1,007 km²⁶. Most of the rest of the country is ice, bare ground or high plateau: more than a third lies above 1,969 feet, and the official land-cover table classes 62.7%² as wasteland.

The land itself is changing faster than its outline. Glaciers have lost about 750 km²¹⁵ since 2000, while forest land in the national inventory has grown by about 610 km²³ since 1990. For travellers the practical measure is the road network: about 8,047 miles of national roads, of which fewer than half are paved, and a Ring Road of about 813 miles³ that takes about 20.6 hours²⁵ to drive without stops.

Conclusions

1. Iceland covers about 39,769 square miles² (103,000 km²), close to Kentucky, less than half the United Kingdom and about a twenty-first of Greenland; land alone, without lakes and rivers, is 38,931 square miles⁷.
2. How much of Iceland is ice depends on the date. The official land-cover table says 11.6%², based on a 1978 survey, while recent research puts it at about 10%¹⁵, after a loss of about 849 square miles since around 1890.
3. Little of Iceland is easy to live on. Only about 24%² lies below 200 m, settlements take up 0.44%¹⁷ of the land, and forest covers 0.53%⁷ by the World Bank's measure.
4. Much of the road network is still unpaved: the Ring Road is about 813 miles³, but only 47.2%²⁷ of the 8,047-mile national network was paved in 2023, and 632²⁸ of the bridges on national roads are single-lane.