Iceland — An Endangered Society
Violent crime has appeared in Iceland, a country where it was once extremely rare. Iceland has also become a participant in the online migrant-crime discourse. The country's isolation has historically been both a blessing and a curse—bringing hardships like famine, harsh weather, and dependence on Danish merchants. In modern times, that isolation has provided advantages in geopolitics, logistics, and tourism, while protecting Icelanders from migrant pressures.
However, this long-standing isolation is rapidly disappearing, and Icelandic society now faces the risk of its own decline. Unlike much of Western Europe, Iceland largely avoided demographic shifts in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Some refugees from the former Yugoslavia arrived in the 1990s, followed by Poles and others from the EU’s eastern expansion in the early 2000s.
"By the Icelandic financial crisis of 2008–2011—a critical inflexion point in the country’s history and a time to take stock of Iceland’s trajectory—immigration was still not an important national issue."
In 2015, immigrants made up 8.9% of Iceland’s population, fewer than 30,000 people, with many being Poles. Over the next decade, that number surged to more than 80,000, accounting for over 20% of the population.
This rapid demographic change challenges the traditional fabric of Icelandic society.
Summary: Iceland’s historical isolation has shielded its culture for centuries, but recent immigration and rising crime rates now pose significant challenges to its social fabric.