welfare in Iceland

The welfare system is very strong. From the age of 16 to 25, the government takes 25 per cent of your wages off you and puts it in a bank account with interest. You get the money either when you’re 25 or if you marry.

Basically, it’s to make sure you have money for a house. So if you marry, which I did at the age of 20, you get that money in cash, which is a lot of money.

Q, november 1997