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> has launched a page with information in Icelandic, English and Polish Does Iceland have a large Polish population?

by pard68 3y ago

imadethis 3y ago
Yes, more Poles than Danes IIRC, which given Iceland's history is quite the feat. Similar to the UK, Polish workers occupy a lot of the builders/drivers/cleaners type blue collar positions in the economy.
- paul7986 3y ago
  I met a few Poles working as hotel attendants during my stay in Iceland earlier this year. I had to call an attendant up to understand how in the word to turn the shower on (there was a long skinny faucet the water poured into the tub that had to be turned clockwise) which she said she was confused by it too and had someone show her. It was in an older Icelandic hotel that used their natural hot water (sulphur stinky but i didnt mind) from the ground for showering or any type of hot water use.
  - MrDresden 3y ago
    At least in the capital there are two separate systems for hot water, one with hot water pumped up from the ground, the other a heat exchanged cold water system. Depending on where in the city you are, that is the hot water you get. The age of each building has nothing to do with it.
    - pard68 3y ago
      You're telling me that hot water is a utility in Iceland? You don't just get a cold line and heat it with your own water tank?
      - MrDresden 3y ago
        Yes, we have no gas infrastructure (for local heating of cold water) so we pipe hot water into each and every home. Tom Scott has a small video on it: https://piped.kavin.rocks/watch?v=OgMXjAQ5q14 https://piped.kavin.rocks/watch?v=OgMXjAQ5q14
  - paul7986 3y ago
    Ah was visiting for the first time. I stayed at the Canopy Hilton and a Room with a View (3 different rooms there). 3 out of four rooms I stayed in were new to new-ish looking; didn't use hot water from the ground. The last one at a Room with a View was very old from the old style elevator (all other rooms used more modern /present day elevator) to the older building (hallways) to the room making me assume since the newer rooms didn't use natural hot water that only older places do.
- input_sh 3y ago
  By far the biggest minority if I might add. Danes are the second largest group, but there's 5 Polish people for every Dane living in Iceland. Of course, Iceland has a total population of a mid-sized city, so we're talking ~21k Polish people compared to ~4k Danes.
NL807 3y ago
I'm assuming they have a sizeable Polish workers residing there.
- dan-robertson 3y ago
  I would have thought the polish workers would be a similar size to everyone else
  - mk67 3y ago
    In my experience the Icelandic vikings are quite a bit bigger on average. ;)
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - ytdytvhxgydvhh 3y ago
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poles_in_Iceland https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poles_in_Iceland
  - Xorakios 3y ago
    [flagged]
meheleventyone 3y ago
Yup: https://statice.is/publications/news-archive/inhabitants/immigrants-and-persons-with-foreign-background-2022/ https://statice.is/publications/news-archive/inhabitants/imm...
rich_sasha 3y ago
Also, fun fact, from before the Polish immigration started in earnest. Iceland's most popular chocolate bar is Polish (Prince Polo). Poland is for cultural reasons heavily dependent on herring, abundantly fished in Icelandic waters. In 1970s, communist Poland didnt have the cash to pay for it though. Iceland accepted chocolate bars in barter. Their popularity was helped by the fact that Iceland had import controls on chocolate bars (not sure why... To protect local industry?) so there wasn't much competition. It's a nice chocolate bar too, which helps.

> has launched a page with information in Icelandic, English and Polish Does Iceland have a large Polish population?

by pard68 3y ago

> has launched a page with information in Icelandic, English and Polish Does Iceland have a large Polish population?

Yes, more Poles than Danes IIRC, which given Iceland's history is quite the feat. Similar to the UK, Polish workers occupy a lot of the builders/drivers/cleaners type blue collar positions in the economy.

paul7986 3y ago
I met a few Poles working as hotel attendants during my stay in Iceland earlier this year. I had to call an attendant up to understand how in the word to turn the shower on (there was a long skinny faucet the water poured into the tub that had to be turned clockwise) which she said she was confused by it too and had someone show her. It was in an older Icelandic hotel that used their natural hot water (sulphur stinky but i didnt mind) from the ground for showering or any type of hot water use.
- MrDresden 3y ago
  At least in the capital there are two separate systems for hot water, one with hot water pumped up from the ground, the other a heat exchanged cold water system. Depending on where in the city you are, that is the hot water you get. The age of each building has nothing to do with it.
  - pard68 3y ago
    You're telling me that hot water is a utility in Iceland? You don't just get a cold line and heat it with your own water tank?
    - MrDresden 3y ago
      Yes, we have no gas infrastructure (for local heating of cold water) so we pipe hot water into each and every home. Tom Scott has a small video on it: https://piped.kavin.rocks/watch?v=OgMXjAQ5q14 https://piped.kavin.rocks/watch?v=OgMXjAQ5q14
- paul7986 3y ago
  Ah was visiting for the first time. I stayed at the Canopy Hilton and a Room with a View (3 different rooms there). 3 out of four rooms I stayed in were new to new-ish looking; didn't use hot water from the ground. The last one at a Room with a View was very old from the old style elevator (all other rooms used more modern /present day elevator) to the older building (hallways) to the room making me assume since the newer rooms didn't use natural hot water that only older places do.
input_sh 3y ago
By far the biggest minority if I might add. Danes are the second largest group, but there's 5 Polish people for every Dane living in Iceland. Of course, Iceland has a total population of a mid-sized city, so we're talking ~21k Polish people compared to ~4k Danes.

NL807 3y ago

I'm assuming they have a sizeable Polish workers residing there.

dan-robertson 3y ago
I would have thought the polish workers would be a similar size to everyone else
- mk67 3y ago
  In my experience the Icelandic vikings are quite a bit bigger on average. ;)
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- ytdytvhxgydvhh 3y ago
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poles_in_Iceland https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poles_in_Iceland
- Xorakios 3y ago
  [flagged]

meheleventyone 3y ago

Yup: https://statice.is/publications/news-archive/inhabitants/immigrants-and-persons-with-foreign-background-2022/ https://statice.is/publications/news-archive/inhabitants/imm...

rich_sasha 3y ago

Also, fun fact, from before the Polish immigration started in earnest. Iceland's most popular chocolate bar is Polish (Prince Polo). Poland is for cultural reasons heavily dependent on herring, abundantly fished in Icelandic waters. In 1970s, communist Poland didnt have the cash to pay for it though. Iceland accepted chocolate bars in barter. Their popularity was helped by the fact that Iceland had import controls on chocolate bars (not sure why... To protect local industry?) so there wasn't much competition. It's a nice chocolate bar too, which helps.