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How it is governed

Iceland on the 12 axes

MLPGFree-Market CosmopolitanOpen markets, open minds, open borders for ideas.

Iceland has the MLPG type, Free-Market Cosmopolitan. The strongest leans are Cooperation on foreign policy (-1.00), Central on structure (+1.00) and Liberty on security (-0.95). The liberty lean rests on a Freedom in the World civil liberties score of 57 out of 60 (2025) and a prison population of 35 per 100,000 people (2024). The central lean reflects a unitary state with a regional government index of 0 (2025). Religion sits at the centre, since the data records an established or official religion alongside a lean that is only +0.05.

Portugal is the closest match at 93%. The two share Private, Free, Democratic, Liberty, Progressive, Global and Cooperation leans. They differ on technology, where Portugal leans Embrace at -0.40 and Iceland sits near the centre at -0.10. Use this page to see how Icelandic politicians and historical figures rank against the country's profile, then take the test to find your own closeness.

Laws and institutionsData 2026-10
ECONOMYSTATESOCIETYWORLDOwnershipMarketsWelfareAuthoritySecurityStructureMoralityReligionTechnologyCultureTradeForeign
Axis by axis

Where Iceland sits

  1. 01Ownership+60
    PublicPrivate
  2. 02Markets+45
    PlannedFree
  3. 03Welfare-25
    SharedSelf-reliant
  4. 04Authority-80
    DemocraticStrong leader
  5. 05Security-95
    LibertyOrder
  6. 06Structure+100
    LocalCentral
  7. 07Morality-85
    ProgressiveTraditional
  8. 08Religion+5
    SecularReligious
  9. 09Technology-10
    EmbraceCaution
  10. 10Culture-15
    MulticulturalNational identity
  11. 11Trade-65
    GlobalProtected
  12. 12Foreign policy-100
    CooperationStrength

Scores come from laws, budgets and institutional indexes, not from polls or the party in power. How country profiles are built

Governed most like Iceland

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Your 12 Axes result ranks the countries governed most like your answers, next to ideologies, figures and politicians.

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Iceland: questions

What is Iceland's type on the 12 axes?

Read from its laws and institutions, Iceland comes out as MLPG (Free-Market Cosmopolitan). The type takes one letter per family of three axes: Economy, State, Society and World. It describes how the country is governed, not what its people think.

Which countries are governed most like Iceland?

On the 12 axes, Portugal is closest at 93%, followed by Luxembourg at 88%. The comparison uses the same country profiles as the country match on your 12 Axes result.