Nearly nine in 10 Icelanders experienced the solar eclipse

Nearly nine in 10 people in Iceland experienced the solar eclipse on August 12, according to a new Gallup National Pulse survey reported by mbl.is.

Slightly more residents of the capital region than elsewhere in the country saw the eclipse, as the western part of Iceland experienced a total eclipse while most other areas saw a partial eclipse.

Six in 10 people experienced the eclipse at home. Almost three in 10 saw it elsewhere in their municipality, while more than one in 10 travelled between regions to watch it.

People in their 50s were most likely to travel

The older people were, the more likely they were to have experienced the eclipse at home. People aged between 50 and 60 were more likely than other age groups to have travelled between regions to see it.

Capital-region residents were more likely than people elsewhere in the country to have watched the eclipse somewhere else in their municipality rather than at home. Residents outside the capital region were more likely to have seen it at home or to have travelled between regions.

Almost six in 10 people experienced the eclipse in the capital region, while about one in 10 did so in western Iceland, Reykjanes, northern Iceland or elsewhere in the country.

Nearly 85% of capital-region residents and almost 11% of residents elsewhere experienced the eclipse in the capital region. More than 9% of capital-region residents and over half of residents elsewhere saw it in western Iceland, Reykjanes or the Westfjords.

Cloudy conditions prevailed in most places during the eclipse. Fewer than three in 10 people who experienced it used eclipse glasses, with younger people more likely than older people to wear them.