Hagstofan (Statistics Iceland)

Official statistics for Iceland via PX-Web API.

API

Base URL: https://px.hagstofa.is/pxis/api/v1/is/

No authentication required. Returns JSON metadata (GET) or CSV/JSON data (POST).

Fetching Data

Browse categories

curl -s "https://px.hagstofa.is/pxis/api/v1/is/" | jq
curl -s "https://px.hagstofa.is/pxis/api/v1/is/Efnahagur/" | jq

Get table metadata

curl -s "https://px.hagstofa.is/pxis/api/v1/is/{path}/{TABLE}.px" | jq

Fetch all data as CSV

curl -X POST "https://px.hagstofa.is/pxis/api/v1/is/{path}/{TABLE}.px" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"query": [], "response": {"format": "csv"}}'

Fetch filtered data

curl -X POST "https://px.hagstofa.is/pxis/api/v1/is/{path}/{TABLE}.px" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "query": [
      {"code": "Tollskrárnúmer", "selection": {"filter": "item", "values": ["87116011", "87120000"]}}
    ],
    "response": {"format": "csv"}
  }'

API Categories

Category	Path	Description
Population	Ibuar/	Demographics, migration, families
Economy	Efnahagur/	GDP, national accounts, trade
Prices	Verdlag/	CPI, price indices
Industries	Atvinnuvegir/	Fishing, agriculture, tourism
Society	Samfelag/	Education, health, crime
Environment	Umhverfi/	Climate, waste, energy
Historical	Sogulegar/	Long-term historical series

Key Datasets

Foreign Trade (Tollskrá)

Path: Efnahagur/utanrikisverslun/1_voruvidskipti/

Table	Period	Description
03_inntollskra/UTA03803.px	2023-2025	Imports by tariff, chapters 84-99 (monthly)
06_tollskrarnumereldra/UTA13813.px	2017-2022	Imports by tariff, chapters 84-99 (annual)
06_tollskrarnumereldra/UTA13823.px	2012-2016	Imports by tariff, chapters 84-99 (annual)

Units available: kg (weight), cif (value ISK), vEin (units)

GDP / National Accounts

Path: Efnahagur/thjodhagsreikningar/landsframl/1_landsframleidsla/

Table	Description
THJ01103.px	GDP at constant prices 1980-2024
THJ01000.px	Key GDP figures 1945-2024
THJ01401.px	GDP per capita 1980-2024

Population

Path: Ibuar/mannfjoldi/

Table	Description
1_yfirlit/Yfirlit_mannfjolda/MAN00000.px	Key population figures 1703-2025
1_yfirlit/Yfirlit_mannfjolda/MAN00101.px	Population by sex and age

State treasury — ríkissjóður fiscal aggregates

Path: Efnahagur/fjaropinber/fjarmal_rikissjods/

Table	Period	Description
THJ05211.px	1980-2025	One-stop state budget balance: tekjur, gjöld, tekjuafgangur/-halli (m.kr), % af VLF, real-2025 prices
THJ05221.px	1998-2025	Full ESA income statement: rekstrartekjur, rekstrarútgjöld, tekjuafgangur, capital rows
THJ05222.px	1998-2025	Rekstrarreikningur ríkissjóðs
THJ95200.px	2004-2014	Cash-basis (greiðslugrunnur) monthly state accounts — month code 0 = annual total
THJ05281.px	1998-2025	Monetary assets and debt incl. almannatryggingar

The ríkisreikningur (Fjársýsla) API only goes back to 2015 — pre-2015 state budget balance (e.g. the 2008–2011 crisis deficits) comes from these tables. scripts/hagstofan_rikissjod.py fetch builds data/processed/rikissjod_balance.csv (all years, wide, m.kr).

Tariff Codes (Bikes/E-bikes)

Classification changed in 2020:

Code	Category	Description
87116010	ebikes*	Pre-2020: E-bikes + e-scooters combined
87116011	ebikes	E-bikes (pedal-assist ≤25 km/h)
87116012	escooters	E-scooters (kick scooters with motor)
87116015	ebikes	Other small EVs ≤25 km/h
87116090	ebikes	Other electric motorcycles
87120000	bikes	Regular bicycles (no motor)

*Discontinued 2020, split into 87116011/12/15

Data Caveats

1. Encoding: CSV output uses UTF-8 with BOM. DuckDB may need ignore_errors=true

2. Archive vs Current:

   • Archive tables (eldra efni) have annual aggregates
   • Current tables have monthly data by country

3. Classification changes: Tariff codes change over time. Always check when series definitions shifted.

4. Wide format: PX tables return time periods as columns. Unpivot to tidy format:

   # Polars unpivot
   df.unpivot(index="Category", variable_name="month", value_name="value")
   

   -- DuckDB UNPIVOT
   UNPIVOT table ON * EXCLUDE (category) INTO NAME month VALUE passengers
   

5. Icelandic headers: Column names are in Icelandic. Common terms:

   • Ár = Year
   • Mánuður = Month
   • Tollskrárnúmer = Tariff code
   • Cif verð krónur = CIF value in ISK
   • Viðbótar magneining = Additional unit (count)

6. PX-Web query gotchas:

   • "filter": "all" returns HTTP 400 Bad Request — always enumerate values explicitly ("filter": "item").
   • json-stat2 responses keep id / size at the top level, not under dimension (dimension keys are plain dimension names).
   • The response's category label may echo the requested selection codes rather than the human labels — when you need row labels, read the metadata valueTexts in the same order as its values.
   • Some tables use a "total" code: THJ95200 has month code 0 = annual total (months are 1–12).

Generic labelled query CLI

uv run python scripts/hagstofan_query.py fetch <relative-table-path> --filters '{"dimension-code":["value-code"]}' --since 2015 --out /path/result.json

list <path> returns metadata/catalogue. Fetch outputs long-form JSON records with original dimension codes and metadata labels; preserves nulls and archives raw JSON by SHA-256. Useful as a CLI dependency for external projects. Do not trust JSON-stat updated as publication time: hotel tables have returned 2015 or year 9999 with current observations.

Current VIS01300 uses CP01–CP13. CP12 is insurance/financial services, CP13 personal care/social protection/other services. hagstofan_cpi.py keeps CP12/CP13 current-only because old IS12 is not comparable. It preserves previous output and exits nonzero if any fetch fails. Other historical category concordances still need care.