History of Rotary in Iceland

see also First Club in Iceland

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Part of our section on the History of Rotary in Europe

Image courtesy of: Vigdís (Vigga) Stefánsdóttir, Rotary Club of Reykjavík-grafarvogur

The first Rotary Club in Iceland was founded September 13th 1934 and that was the Rotaryclub of Reykjavik and it was confirmed by RI 31st of May 1935 as you can find on the RI website. At that time Iceland belonged to Denmark and the first 6 Rotary clubs in Iceland belonged to the Danish District Nr. 75. The Icelandic District now nr 1360 was established the 1st July 1946.

Yours in Rotary,

Örn Smári Arnaldsson, DG 1360

Today there are 30 Rotary clubs in Iceland with about 1100 members.

Iceland has one Rotarian for every 266 inhabitants which is among the highest, if not the highest per capita in the world. Nineteen of the clubs have admitted women as members, and they are now 130.

 Eighteen of the clubs in Iceland have evening meetings, eight have lunch meetings and two have breakfast meetings. 

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