Iceland Regions Map

Iceland has 8 regions: the Capital Region, Southern Peninsula, West Iceland, Westfjords, Northwest Iceland, Northeast Iceland, East Iceland and South Iceland, and all 8 appear on the map on this page. The regions serve statistical purposes. They collect census, tourism and labour figures, but they do not elect assemblies or levy taxes. Local government in Iceland sits with the municipalities, which merge and change far more often than the eight regional boundaries do.

South Iceland (Suðurland) is the largest of Iceland's regions at 30,983 km² (11,963 sq mi), stretching from the coastal lowlands around Selfoss and Vík inland toward the Highlands. It contains the waterfalls Seljalandsfoss and Skógafoss, black-sand beaches and large glaciated areas, which makes it one of the most visited parts of the country. The Southern Peninsula, at 813 km² (314 sq mi), sits at the other end of the range. On a choropleth map the size difference matters: South Iceland dominates the frame visually even when its value is modest, so a legend and clear labels help readers.

The Capital Region (Höfuðborgarsvæðið) is the most populous region of Iceland with 249,054 residents (2025). It contains Reykjavík, the capital and the country's main cultural and economic center, along with the neighbouring municipalities that ring the city. Landmarks there include Hallgrímskirkja and the Harpa Concert Hall. No other region comes close: the Westfjords, at the opposite extreme, has 7,176 people (2025). Akureyri in Northeast Iceland and Reykjanesbær on the Southern Peninsula are the largest towns outside the capital area. Because population is so concentrated, per-capita indicators usually read very differently from raw totals when you map them.

The Westfjords (Vestfirðir) is the least populous region of Iceland, with 7,176 residents (2025), just below Northwest Iceland's 7,355. Ísafjörður is the main service town. The peninsula's coastline is cut by long, deep fjords, which lengthens road journeys and keeps settlements small and scattered. Dynjandi waterfall and the Látrabjarg bird cliffs are both here. Northwest Iceland, not the Westfjords, is the most thinly settled region, because it spreads a similar population over 13,108 km². When you color Icelandic regions by totals, both regions sit at the pale end of the scale, so rates per 1,000 inhabitants often tell a more useful story than counts.

Reykjavík is in the Capital Region (Höfuðborgarsvæðið), which had 249,054 inhabitants in 2025 and also covers Kópavogur, Hafnarfjörður, Garðabær, Mosfellsbær and the other neighbouring municipalities. The city is a municipality, not a region of its own, although some older boundary datasets outline it separately and show a ninth shape. If you are joining data by name, check whether your source reports figures for Reykjavík the city or for the whole Capital Region. Mixing the two produces totals that will not reconcile with national statistics.

Iceland's 8 regions are statistical divisions, not administrative ones. They have no regional parliament, governor or budget. Municipalities are the country's real local government tier, running schools, planning and social services, and they are the units that merge or split over time. The regions exist so that population, employment, tourism and economic data can be reported at a level between the municipality and the state. That is also why regional boundaries change rarely: they follow groupings of municipalities. For most reporting and mapping work, the eight regions remain the standard sub-national breakdown for Iceland.

Iceland has no states or provinces. The country has two tiers of government, the national state and the municipalities, and the 8 regions group those municipalities for statistics. Iceland also has 23 historical counties (sýslur), which still appear in place names and older maps but no longer form a layer of government. If you are looking for a map of Iceland's states, provinces or counties, the 8-region map is the standard breakdown that current statistics use.

Iceland's best-known landmarks spread across all the regions. Hallgrímskirkja and Harpa stand in the Capital Region. West Iceland holds Snæfellsjökull National Park and the peak Kirkjufell. Dynjandi waterfall and the Látrabjarg cliffs are in the Westfjords. Northeast Iceland has Lake Mývatn, Goðafoss, Dettifoss and Ásbyrgi canyon. Stuðlagil canyon and the Vök Baths are in East Iceland, near Egilsstaðir. South Iceland covers Seljalandsfoss and Skógafoss along with the black-sand coast around Vík. Marking these as pins on top of a colored regional map gives readers a reference point for where each figure applies.

Everything happens in the browser on this page, and the editor is free to use without an account. If you have data, import a table of eight numbers, one per region, and the regions are colored on a scale with a legend. Without data, click individual regions, the Westfjords alone for instance, and recolor them by hand. Palette, background, label wording, typeface and outline weight are set independently, and pins can mark Reykjavík, Akureyri, Ísafjörður or any coordinates you choose, each with a caption. A free export is a standard PNG with a small Ultimaps credit, and high-resolution PNG, SVG and PDF exports come with a Pro plan.