Iceland's Version of Family Assistance

[Kriger]

With a population of some 299,388 people, Iceland has a mildly flucuating degree of families living at or below their determination of the poverty level. The current count is 1,200 families receiving help with food, clothing, etc.

There is a recent trend of increasing numbers of families requiring assistance of some sort. The majority of these are immigrants from other countries. The following link provides the details:

http://www.icelandicreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/?cat_id=16567&ew_0_a_id=250579

As far as the immigrants themselves are concerned, in 2003 most were from Poland (146), followed by Denmark (106), Sweden (76), and the Philippines (73). Iceland was originally settled by Norsemen from Scandinavia and Celts from the British Isles.

So now I am curious. Why would anyone immigrate from the Philippines to Iceland?

[Hrolf Kraki]

With a population of some 299,388 people, Iceland has a mildly flucuating degree of families living at or below their determination of the poverty level. The current count is 1,200 families receiving help with food, clothing, etc.

There is a recent trend of increasing numbers of families requiring assistance of some sort. The majority of these are immigrants from other countries. The following link provides the details:

http://www.icelandicreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/?cat_id=16567&ew_0_a_id=250579

As far as the immigrants themselves are concerned, in 2003 most were from Poland (146), followed by Denmark (106), Sweden (76), and the Philippines (73). Iceland was originally settled by Norsemen from Scandinavia and Celts from the British Isles.

So now I am curious. Why would anyone immigrate from the Philippines to Iceland?

Probably because the Philippines is a poor country and Iceland is a rich one in terms of revenue per capita. The climate change must be a real shock to them though. I saw a Filipeno lady working at the Blue Lagoon. She looked way out of place next to the other blond-haired, blue-eyed Icelandic girls. Of course there is nothing wrong with Danish and Swedish immigrants, IMO. :)

[Kriger]

It always surprises me when I see non-whites from warm climates emigrating to colder climates. Friends have told me that many of them like to keep the thermostat somewhere around 80 degrees F. in the winter time. I cannot imagine, as anything over 70 degrees F. feels warm to me.

I also found it interesting that the only non-whites emigrating there were from the Philippines. I haven't really looked at the more current immigration records as I was mostly just looking for general trends.

And I like how they take care of their poorer families. Much more in keeping with tradition than the federal programs we are accustomed to in the USA. There is just no telling how much of taxpayer's dollars are wasted in welfare fraud.

We have many community services here that operate in much the same manner. Being a small town, it is difficult for someone to get assistance unless they really need it. Federally funded programs are a whole other story.