• 2015 half-year gain: 17.9%

Iceland is coming back from its dark days during the financial crisis.

Iceland's economy is expected to have its best year of growth this year since 2007. Unemployment is falling and the country's government is about to make a big step that would signal its recovery.

Iceland's government plans to remove capital controls that it set in place during the crisis. That meant investors and the Icelandic people could not ship their cash overseas to countries that use the euro or British pound. People had to keep cash in the country.

So far, that approach seems to be working for Iceland, a country with the population about the size of Anchorage, Alaska (320,000). Iceland is a post-financial crisis success story, and investors are rallying behind the comeback.

Related: IMF warns U.S.: financial system (still) vulnerable

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