Quality of life comparison

compared to

If you lived in Iceland instead of Hong Kong, you would:

Economy

be 55.8% less likely to live below the poverty line

In Hong Kong, 19.9% live below the poverty line as of 2016. In Iceland, however, that number is 8.8% as of 2017.

pay a 3.1 times higher top tax rate

Hong Kong has a top tax rate of 15.0% as of 2016. In Iceland, the top tax rate is 46.3% as of 2016.

Life

be 35.3% less likely to die during infancy

In Hong Kong, approximately 2.5 children (per 1,000 live births) die before they reach the age of one as of 2022. In Iceland, on the other hand, 1.6 children do as of 2022.

have 65.8% more children

In Hong Kong, there are approximately 7.6 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024. In Iceland, there are 12.6 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024.

Expenditures

spend 92.5% more on education

Hong Kong spends 4.0% of its total GDP on education as of 2021. Iceland spends 7.7% of total GDP on education as of 2020.

Geography

see 6.8 times more coastline

Hong Kong has a total of 733 km of coastline. In Iceland, that number is 4,970 km.

The statistics above were calculated using the following data sources: The World Factbook, Directorate of Internal Revenue, Inland Revenue Department, Hong Kong.

Iceland: At a glance

Iceland is a sovereign country in Europe, with a total land area of approximately 100,250 sq km. Settled by Norwegian and Celtic (Scottish and Irish) immigrants during the late 9th and 10th centuries A.D., Iceland boasts the world's oldest functioning legislative assembly, the Althing, established in 930. Independent for over 300 years, Iceland was subsequently ruled by Norway and Denmark. Fallout from the Askja volcano of 1875 devastated the Icelandic economy and caused widespread famine. Over the next quarter century, 20% of the island's population emigrated, mostly to Canada and the US. Denmark granted limited home rule in 1874 and complete independence in 1944. The second half of the 20th century saw substantial economic growth driven primarily by the fishing industry. The economy diversified greatly after the country joined the European Economic Area in 1994, but Iceland was especially hard hit by the global financial crisis in the years following 2008. Literacy, longevity, and social cohesion are first rate by world standards.
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How big is Iceland compared to Hong Kong? See an in-depth size comparison.

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