Nearly four in ten Iceland residents report midge bites

Nearly four in 10 people in Iceland say they were bitten by biting midges this summer, according to a new Gallup national poll reported by mbl.is.

Some 39% of respondents said they had been bitten in Iceland this year, up from 32% last year. The proportion has risen steadily since Gallup began measuring it in 2019, when 14% said they had been bitten.

Among those who reported bites, 34% said they were bitten in their local area, a six percentage point decrease from last year. Meanwhile, 54% said the bites occurred in another part of the country, while 13% said they were bitten both locally and elsewhere.

Southern Iceland had the highest share of respondents reporting bites, at 40%.