Perception of immigration to Iceland: The host country perspective

With 35.5 immigrants per 1000 inhabitants, Iceland had the third highest number of immigrants per inhabitants in Europe in 2018. Until the turn of the century, the foreign population percentage in Iceland was around 2%. In the last 5 years, this percentage has risen steadily to nearly 14% in 2020. How is this rapid rise in immigration experienced by the host country population? How are immigrants perceived and what are expectations in terms of behavior? The Inclusive Societies – Iceland project investigated both, the immigrants’ situation in Iceland, but also the native populations’ attitude towards immigration and immigrants. It is important to take the host country perspective into consideration, as diversity ideologies will also determine the acculturation options for minorities.
A quantitative survey was conducted among 3630 native Icelanders (51.1% women, MAge = 50.8, SD = 15.6), spread across all regions of Iceland. The questions covered a range of domains pertinent to life in Iceland. In this Chapter only the questions pertaining directly to immigration and immigrants are analyzed. The results indicate that culture contact takes place – with, over two thirds of participants indicating that they have invited immigrants to their home and slightly under two thirds having been invited to immigrants’ homes. Overall, the perception is that immigrants have made a positive impact to communities. The vast majority of participants expect immigrants to learn Icelandic. The greatest divergence of views was found concerning the question, if immigrants should adopt Icelandic customs and values. The findings will be discussed in light of policy implications.