Portuguese in Iceland


Portuguese in Iceland are citizens and residents of Iceland who are of Portuguese descent.
Portuguese people in Iceland are the citizens or residents of Iceland whose ethnic origins lie in Portugal.
Portuguese Icelanders are Portuguese-born citizens with an Icelandic citizenship or Icelandic-born citizens of Portuguese ancestry or citizenship.
About 1,406 Portuguese people livie in Iceland as of 2022. In addition, 122 people of Portuguese descent have acquired Icelandic citizenship since 2000, for a total of at least 1,528 people of recent Portuguese background. The Portuguese represent 0.39% of the country's population.

History

The Portuguese community in the country has experienced considerable growth, especially after Brexit. Portuguese emigrants are in fact leaving the United Kingdom for Nordic countries: most of them are highly qualified and aged between 20 and 40, looking for better quality of life and economic stability. Portuguese emigration has increased particularly in the last years and in 2022 alone 360 Portuguese entered the country. The two countries maintain a strong relationship of mutual respect and are both NATO members.

Footballers

In recent years many Portuguese international footballers have moved to Iceland to play for Norwegian clubs: in 2023 these included Braima Candé, Ivo Braz, Tiago Fernandes, Rafael Victor and Rodrigo Dias.

Remittances

The Portuguese community in Iceland retains strong ties with its homeland and, between 2000 and 2021, it has sent approximately 7.1 million euros to Portugal in remittances. In the same timeframe, Icelanders in Portugal have sent approximately €0.97 million to Iceland.

Portuguese language

As of today, the Portuguese are part of a wider Portuguese-speaking community in Iceland, comprising around 170 people from PALOP countries, Timor-Leste or Macau and around 290 Brazilians.
People from CPLP countries thus number around 2,000 people, accounting for 0.52% of the population of Iceland. Despite being – in absolute numbers – the smallest immigrant community of people coming from CPLP countries amongst the ones found in Nordic countries, people from Portuguese-speaking countries have, in Iceland, their largest share on the total population when looking at the countries of the Nordic Council.
In Denmark there are around 11,000 CPLP nationals, in Finland there are a little more than 5,000 CPLP nationals, while in Norway there are around 25,300 CPLP nationals and in Sweden 26,700.

Notable people