Answer:
Iceland is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, with a population of 356,991. It has a area of 103,000 km2 making it the most sparsely populated country in Europe. The capital and largest city is Reykjavík. The interior consists of a plateau characterised by sand and lava fields, mountains, and glaciers, and many glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands. Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a temperate climate, despite a high latitude just outside the Arctic Circle. Its high latitude and marine influence keep summers chilly, with most of the archipelago having a polar climate. The island was governed as an independent commonwealth under the Althing, one of the world's oldest functioning legislative assemblies. In the wake of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, Iceland's struggle for independence took form and culminated in independence in 1918 and the founding of a republic in 1944
Until the 20th century, Iceland relied largely on subsistence fishing and agriculture. Iceland has a market economy with relatively low taxes, compared to other OECD countries as well as the highest trade union membership in the world. Iceland ranks high in economic, democratic, social stability, and equality, ranking third in the world by median wealth per adult. In 2018, it was ranked as the sixth-most developed country in the world by the United Nations' Human Development Index, and it ranks first on the Global Peace Index Iceland runs almost completely on renewable energy. Hit hard by the worldwide financial crisis, the nation's entire banking system systemically failed in October 2008, leading to an economic crisis and the collapse of the country's three largest banks. By 2014, the Icelandic economy had made a significant recovery, in large part due to a surge in tourism.
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