Demographics of the Faroe Islands

This article is about the demographic features of the population of the Faroe Islands, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

Faroese student in national costume.

The vast majority of the population are ethnic Faroese, of Norse descent. Ethnic Faroese are, in genetic terms, among the most homogenous groups ever found.

Recent DNA analysis have revealed that Y chromosomes, tracing male descent, are 87% Scandinavian.^[1] The studies show that mitochondrial DNA, tracing female descent, is 84% Scottish / Irish.^[2]

Of the approximately 48,000 inhabitants of the Faroe Islands (16,921 private households (2004)), 98% are Danish realm citizens, meaning Faroese, Danish, or Greenlandic. By birthplace one can derive the following origins of the inhabitants: born on the Faroes 91.7%, in Denmark 5.8%, and in Greenland 0.3%. The largest group of foreigners are Icelanders comprising 0.4% of the population, followed by Norwegians and Poles, each comprising 0.2%. Altogether, on the Faroe Islands there are people from 77 different nationalities. The Faroe Islands have the highest rate of adoption in the world, despite a relatively high fertility rate of 2.6 children. [1]

Faroese is spoken in the entire country as a first language. It is not possible to say exactly how many people worldwide speak the Faroese language. This is for two reasons: Firstly, many ethnic Faroese live in Denmark and few who are born there return to the Faroes with their parents or as adults. Secondly, there are some established Danish families on the Faroes who speak Danish at home.

The Faroese language is one of the smallest of the Germanic languages. It is most similar to Icelandic and Old Norse. In the twentieth century Faroese became the official language and since the Faroes are a part of the Danish realm Danish is taught in schools as a compulsory second language.

Faroese language policy provides for the active creation of new terms in Faroese suitable for modern life.

Vital statistics since 1900 ^[3][4]

	Average population	Live births	Deaths	Natural change	Crude birth rate (per 1000)	Crude death rate (per 1000)	Natural change (per 1000)
1900	15 000	455	233	222	30.3	15.5	14.8
1901	15 300	457	228	229	29.9	14.9	15.0
1902	15 600	502	217	285	32.2	13.9	18.3
1903	15 900	435	199	236	27.4	12.5	14.8
1904	16 200	489	234	255	30.2	14.4	15.7
1905	16 500	498	296	202	30.2	17.9	12.2
1906	16 700	493	229	264	29.5	13.7	15.8
1907	17 000	479	196	283	28.2	11.5	16.6
1908	17 300	576	182	394	33.3	10.5	22.8
1909	17 600	528	196	332	30.0	11.1	18.9
1910	17 900	576	157	419	32.2	8.8	23.4
1911	18 200	559	164	395	30.7	9.0	21.7
1912	18 600	624	184	440	33.5	9.9	23.7
1913	18 900	650	169	481	34.4	8.9	25.4
1914	19 200	580	182	398	30.2	9.5	20.7
1915	19 600	643	288	355	32.8	14.7	18.1
1916	19 900	636	261	375	32.0	13.1	18.8
1917	20 200	570	240	330	28.2	11.9	16.3
1918	20 600	625	199	426	30.3	9.7	20.7
1919	20 900	607	221	386	29.0	10.6	18.5
1920	21 200	665	227	438	31.4	10.7	20.7
1921	21 500	614	230	384	28.6	10.7	17.9
1922	21 800	668	211	457	30.6	9.7	21.0
1923	22 100	652	255	397	29.5	11.5	18.0
1924	22 400	631	268	363	28.2	12.0	16.2
1925	22 700	599	228	371	26.4	10.0	16.3
1926	23 000	592	199	393	25.7	8.7	17.1
1927	23 300	579	157	422	24.8	6.7	18.1
1928	23 600	620	194	426	26.3	8.2	18.1
1929	23 900	575	253	322	24.1	10.6	13.5
1930	24 200	633	273	360	26.2	11.3	14.9
1931	24 500	607	239	368	24.8	9.8	15.0
1932	24 700	604	210	394	24.5	8.5	16.0
1933	25 000	545	248	297	21.8	9.9	11.9
1934	25 300	578	231	347	22.8	9.1	13.7
1935	25 600	585	269	316	22.9	10.5	12.3
1936	25 900	565	265	300	21.8	10.2	11.6
1937	26 200	615	212	403	23.5	8.1	15.4
1938	26 600	617	241	376	23.2	9.1	14.1
1939	26 900	577	182	395	21.4	6.8	14.7
1940	27 300	698	228	470	25.6	8.4	17.2
1941	27 600	690	286	404	25.0	10.4	14.6
1942	28 000	721	250	471	25.8	8.9	16.8
1943	28 300	804	235	569	28.4	8.3	20.1
1944	28 700	732	247	485	25.5	8.6	16.9
1945	29 000	718	247	471	24.8	8.5	16.2
1946	29 000	708	248	460	24.4	8.6	15.9
1947	30 000	742	242	500	24.7	8.1	16.7
1948	30 000	821	227	595	27.4	7.6	19.8
1949	31 000	876	256	626	28.3	8.3	20.2
1950	31 000	856	282	585	27.6	9.1	18.9
1951	31 000	857	229	628	27.6	7.4	20.3
1952	32 000	809	240	569	25.3	7.5	17.8
1953	33 000	758	228	530	23.0	6.9	16.1
1954	33 000	757	248	509	22.9	7.5	15.4
1955	32 000	749	221	528	23.4	6.9	16.5
1956	33 000	767	239	528	23.2	7.2	16.0
1957	33 000	746	268	478	22.6	8.1	14.5
1958	34 000	845	226	619	24.9	6.6	18.2
1959	34 000	856	242	614	25.2	7.1	18.1
1960	34 000	764	274	490	22.5	8.1	14.4
1961	35 000	781	206	575	22.3	5.9	16.4
1962	36 000	800	234	566	22.2	6.5	15.7
1963	36 000	848	242	606	23.6	6.7	16.8
1964	36 000	857	253	604	23.8	7.0	16.8
1965	37 000	889	261	628	24.0	7.1	17.0
1966	37 000	969	262	707	26.2	7.1	19.1
1967	38 000	956	289	667	25.2	7.6	17.6
1968	38 000	878	262	616	23.1	6.9	16.2
1969	38 300	843	269	574	22.0	7.0	15.0
1970	38 700	814	287	527	21.0	7.4	13.6
1971	38 700	779	308	471	20.1	8.0	12.2
1972	38 900	798	267	531	20.5	6.9	13.7
1973	39 400	808	303	505	20.5	7.7	12.8
1974	40 100	798	303	495	19.9	7.6	12.3
1975	40 800	781	280	501	19.1	6.9	12.3
1976	41 300	756	291	465	18.3	7.0	11.3
1977	41 800	759	271	488	18.2	6.5	11.7
1978	42 400	742	303	439	17.5	7.1	10.4
1979	43 000	790	269	521	18.4	6.3	12.1
1980	43 400	741	309	432	17.1	7.1	10.0
1981	43 800	753	293	460	17.2	6.7	10.5
1982	44 200	726	316	410	16.4	7.1	9.3
1983	44 500	688	361	327	15.5	8.1	7.3
1984	45 000	695	350	345	15.4	7.8	7.7
1985	45 500	760	342	418	16.7	7.5	9.2
1986	46 000	794	371	423	17.3	8.1	9.2
1987	46 600	785	377	408	16.8	8.1	8.8
1988	47 300	880	426	454	18.6	9.0	9.6
1989	47 700	946	375	571	19.8	7.9	12.0
1990	47 600	955	359	596	20.1	7.5	12.5
1991	47 400	873	397	476	18.4	8.4	10.0
1992	47 100	811	401	410	17.2	8.5	8.7
1993	46 100	771	380	391	16.7	8.2	8.5
1994	44 500	670	354	316	15.1	8.0	7.1
1995	43 600	641	363	278	14.7	8.3	6.4
1996	43 600	673	396	277	15.4	9.1	6.4
1997	44 000	663	376	287	15.1	8.5	6.5
1998	44 500	625	377	248	14.0	8.5	5.6
1999	45 100	626	401	225	13.9	8.9	5.0
2000	45 700	692	352	340	15.1	7.7	7.4
2001	46 600	632	358	274	13.6	7.7	5.9
2002	47 300	709	392	317	15.0	8.3	6.7
2003	47 900	705	404	301	14.7	8.4	6.3
2004	48 300	713	379	334	14.8	7.8	6.9
2005	48 300	712	419	293	14.7	8.7	6.1
2006	48 200	662	416	246	13.7	8.6	5.1
2007	48 400	672	380	292	13.9	7.9	6.0
2008	48 600	661	373	288	13.6	7.7	5.9
2009	48 700	598	386	212	12.3	7.9	4.4
2010

CIA World Factbook demographic statistics

Demographics of the Faroe Islands, Data of FAO, year 2005 ; Number of inhabitants in thousands.

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.

Age structure

0-14 years: 21,6% (male 5,451; female 5,108)
15-64 years: 64% (male 16,708; female 14,544)
65 years and over: 14,4% (male 3,324; female 3,721) (2009 est.)

Sex ratio

at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.07 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.15 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.89 male(s)/female
total population: 1.09 male(s)/female (2009 est.)

Infant mortality rate

6.32 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 79.44 years
male: 77 years
female: 82.05 years (2009 est.)

Total fertility rate

2.44 children born/woman (2009 est.)

Nationality

noun: Faroese (singular and plural)
adjective: Faroese

Ethnic groups

Faroese (mixed Scandinavian - British)

Religions

Lutheran

Norse paganism

Languages

Faroese (derived from Old Norse), Danish

Literacy

definition: NA
total population: NA%
male: NA%
female: NA%
note: similar to Denmark proper

Population by island

Name	Area	Inhabitants	People per km²	Main places	Regions
Streymoy	373.5	21,717	57.4	Tórshavn and Vestmanna	Tórshavn and rest of Streymoy
Eysturoy	286.3	10,738	37	Fuglafjørður and Runavík	North Eysturoy and South Eysturoy
Vágar	177.6	2,856	15.7	Míðvágur and Sørvágur	Vágar
Suðuroy	166	5,074	30.9	Tvøroyri and Vágur	Suðuroy
Sandoy	112.1	1,428	12.4	Sandur	Sandoy
Borðoy	95	5,030	52.4	Klaksvík	Klaksvík and rest of northern Faroes (Norðoyar)
Viðoy	41	605	15	Viðareiði	Norðoyar
Kunoy	35.5	135	3.8	Kunoy	Norðoyar
Kalsoy	30.9	136	4.8	Mikladalur and Húsar	Norðoyar
Svínoy	27.4	58	2.7	Svínoy	Norðoyar
Fugloy	11.2	46	4	Kirkja	Norðoyar
Nólsoy	10.3	262	26.1	Nólsoy	Streymoy
Mykines	10.3	19	2	Mykines	Vágar
Skúvoy	10	61	5.7	Skúvoy	Sandoy
Hestur	6.1	40	7.1	Hestur	Streymoy
Stóra Dímun	2.7	7	1.9	Dímun	Sandoy
Koltur	2.5	2	0.8	Koltur	Streymoy
Lítla Dímun	0.8	0	0	–	Sandoy

See also

• Faroe Islands
• List of Faroese people

References

1. ^ The origin of the isolated population of the Faroe Islands investigated using Y chromosomal markers, http://www.springerlink.com/content/4yuhf5m7a22gc4qm/, Tove H. Jorgensen, Henriette N. Buttenschön, August G. Wang, Thomas D. Als, Anders D. Børglum and Henrik Ewald1, 8 April 2004.
2. ^ Wang, C. August. 2006. Ílegur og Føroya Søga. In: Frøði pp.20-23
3. ^ Statistical yearbooks of Denmark
4. ^ Statistics Faroe Islands