Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson

Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, Icelandic academic and politician, 5th President of Iceland

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Born: May 14, 1943
Age in 2026: 83
Zodiac sign: Taurus
Birth year: 1943

About Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson

Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson (Icelandic: [ˈouːlavʏr ˈraknar ˈkrimsɔn]; born 14 May 1943) is an Icelandic politician who was the fifth president of Iceland, serving from 1996 to 2016. He was previously a member of the Icelandic Parliament for the People's Alliance and served as Minister of Finance from 1988 to 1991. Since the end of his presidency, Ólafur has been serving as Chairman of the Arctic Circle, a non-profit organization, and as Chairman of the International Renewable Energy Agency's Global Commission on the Geopolitics of Energy Transformation. He was also awarded the Louise T Blouin Award for Creative and Cultural Achievement. In a referendum held on 9 April 2011, Icelanders rejected for a second time a proposal to pay $5 billion to Britain and the Netherlands.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

The world when Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson was born

Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson was born in 1943. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1943

#1 song"As Time Goes By" – Dooley Wilson
Top movieFor Whom the Bell Tolls
Best-selling bookThe Robe – Lloyd C. Douglas

Headlines and milestones

Major sports momentAll-American Girls Professional Baseball League founded
Top headlineAllies invade Italy
Technology milestoneLSD accidentally discovered by Albert Hofmann
Defining fadZoot suits
Notable inventionSlinky
World population2.38 billion

United States snapshot

U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt
Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
U.S. population136.7M

1943 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure	1943	2026
Gas	$0.21	$3.45/gal
Average home	$5,700	$435,000
Average income	$4,100	$67,500
Minimum wage	$0.30	$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket	$0.27	$11.95
Postage stamp	$0.03	$0.73
Population	136.7M	341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Library of Congress. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.