Iceland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 12/2017

Capital and largest city

Reykjavík
64°08′N 21°56′W

Official language
and national language
• Icelandic

Ethnic groups (2016)
• 92.04% Icelandic
• 3.63% Polish
• 4.33% other

Religion
Church of Iceland

Demonym
Icelander

Government
Unitary parliamentary republic
• President
• Prime Minister
• President of Parliament
• President of Supreme Court

Legislature
Althing

Formation
• Settlement
9th century

• Commonwealth
930–1262

• Union with Norway
1262–1814

• Danish monarchy
1380–1944

• Constitution
5 January 1874

• Kingdom
1 December 1918

• Republic
17 June 1944

Area
• Total: 102,775 km2 (39,682 sq mi) (106th)
• Water (%): 2.7

Population
• 1 January 2016 estimate
332,529(172nd)

• Density: 3.2/km2 (8.3/sq mi) (233rd)

GDP (PPP) - 2017 estimate
• Total: $18 billion (142nd)
• Per capita: $52,150 (18th)

Currency
Icelandic króna (ISK)

Time zone
WET (UTC+0)

Date format
dd/mm/yyyy

Drives on the
right

Calling code
+354

Patron saint
Saint Thorlak

ISO 3166 code
IS

Internet TLD
.is

The Alþingi (anglicised as Althingi or Althing) is the national parliament of Iceland. 

It is one of the oldest parliaments in the world.

The Althing was founded in 930 at Þingvellir ("thing fields"), situated approximately 45 kilometres (28 mi) east of what later became the country's capital, Reykjavík. 

Even after Iceland's union with Norway in 1262, the Althing still held its sessions at Þingvellir until 1800, when it was discontinued for 45 years. 

It was restored in 1844 and moved to Reykjavík, where it has resided ever since.

The present parliament building, the Alþingishús, was built in 1881, of hewn Icelandic stone.

The unicameral parliament has 63 members, and is elected every four years based on Party-list proportional representation.

The constitution of Iceland provides for six electoral constituencies with the possibility of an increase to seven. 

The constituency boundaries and the number of seats allocated to each constituency are fixed by legislation. 

No constituency can be represented by fewer than six seats. Furthermore, each party with more than 5% of the national vote is allocated seats based on its proportion of the national vote in order that the number of members in parliament for each political party should be more or less proportional to its overall electoral support. 

If the number of voters represented by each member of Alþingi in one constituency would be less than half of the comparable ratio in another constituency, the Icelandic National Electoral Commission is tasked with altering the allocation of seats to reduce that difference.