Population below five meters above sea level — all countries

Population below five meters above sea level — Iceland

Population below five meters above sea level in Iceland in 2015 — 11.31%. Ranked 178 in the world out of 215. Since 1990, the indicator has fallen by 1.48 pp.

2015 11.31% −0.91 pp vs 2000
World rank 178of 215
Period maximum 12.79%1990
Period minimum 11.31%2015

Trend over time

1990–2015 · % of population

Population below five meters above sea level — Iceland, 1990–20151111.51212.5131990199319961999200220052008201120141990: 12.79%2000: 12.22%2015: 11.31%
Change over the period: −1.48 pp Annual average: -0.06 pp

Comparison, 2015

How the value compares with the world and the groups this territory belongs to: Iceland

Iceland 11.31%
World 4.06%
Northern Europe computed 4.01%
High-income countries computed 4.19%
Population below five meters above sea level — Iceland, by year Iceland All countries CSV XLSX
Year % Change, pp
2015 11.31
2000 12.22
1990 12.79

About the indicator

The share of the population living less than five meters above sea level. The threshold is not arbitrary: this is the zone already threatened by storm surges and, over the coming century, by sea level rise. In absolute numbers the densely populated deltas of Asia come first; by share, island states and the Netherlands — and the latter show that a high share does not equal high risk, since everything depends on whether coastal defenses are in place.

Important: The series is not annual: the World Bank computes it from a digital elevation model for individual benchmark years, the latest of which is 2015, and has not updated it since. No one has fresher data of this kind; the values are best read as an order-of-magnitude estimate.

Source: World Development Indicators (World Bank), license CC BY 4.0.