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… that the Faroe Islands have a population of nearly 50,000.
About 20,000 people live in the metropolitan area of Tórshavn – often referred
to as “the smallest capital in the world”. About 5,000 people live in Klaksvík,
the second largest town. |
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... that approximately 5 % of the people living in the Faroes
are Danish born with Danish as their mother tongue. |
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… that the precipitous terrain limits habitation to small
coastal lowlands. 17 islands are inhabited, leaving just one uninhabited island,
the smallest island, Lítla Dímun. |
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… that even though the Faroe Islands are located
approximately 1,400 km (874 miles) away from Denmark, they are part of the
Danish Kingdom – but as an autonomous self-governing island territory aiming for
higher independence. Most matters are under Faroese control, but the Danish
still control Law Enforcement and Foreign Policy. |
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... that the Faroese people don't consider themselves as
Danish and never have. Although they are aware of the strong historical and
judicial ties to the Danes, they see the Faroe Islands as a nation of it's own
and Denmark as a foreign country in line with the other Nordic countries.
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… that as explicitly asserted by both Rome treaties, the
Faroe Islands are not part of the European Union, even though Denmark is. |
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... that in Viking times the Faroes were part of a trade
network with Dublin as a hub, and many Irish women made their way there as wives
or slaves. DNA analysis shows that 84pc of Faroese females are of Irish or
Scottish descent! (Read
the Article about the Faroese Gene Pool in European Journal of Human Genetics
(2006) 14, 497–504. published online 25 January 2006. Subject: Highly discrepant
proportions of female and male Scandinavian and British Isles ancestry within
the isolated population of the Faroe Islands - by Thomas D Als, Tove H
Jorgensen, Anders D Børglum, Peter A Petersen, Ole Mors and August G Wang.) |
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... that in the international football world Faroe Islands is
an independent country with it's own national team. Faroese teams participate in
international tournaments as explicitly Faroese. The current coach of the
national football team is the Irishman Brian Kerr. Wikipedia on Faroe Islands
National Football Team:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faroe_Islands_national_football_team |
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… that the islands have a very good infrastructure. Some 80% of
the population in the islands is connected by tunnels, sub sea tunnels, bridges and
causeways which bind the three largest islands and three other large islands to
the northeast together, while the other two large islands to the south of the
main area are connected to the main area with new fast ferries. There are good
roads that lead to every village in the islands, except for seven of the smaller
islands, six of which only have one village.
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…that there is a helicopter service to the outer lying
islands subsidised by the government to make the service affordable for the
locals. (Get an impression of the spectacular helicopter ride
here.) |
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... that you can drive in the city buses in Tórshavn, the capital, as long
as you like, free of charge! This service is very much appreciated by young
people without drivers licenses, elderly people and tourists.
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... that there are 18 major harbours on the islands, as well as numerous
smaller ones.
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... that three shipping companies operate weekly routes all year round to
and from the Faroe Islands. There are regular scheduled connections by sea
all year round to Iceland and several European countries, incl. Denmark.
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... the only airport on the islands is situated on the island of Vágar. From
Vágar there are regular flights to Denmark - three times a day in the winter
period and up to five times a day in the summer period - and less frequent
flights to other destinations like London, Reykjavik, Oslo and Stockholm. |
Economy - Did You Know…
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… that the Faroe islands have one of the smallest independent
economic entities in the world. The islands' primary industry is the fishing
industry which accounts for over 80% of the total export value of goods, which
are mainly processed fish products and fish farming. Tourism is the second
largest industry, followed by woollen and other manufactured products. |
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… that the unemployment rate in
the Faroes has been low in 2009 in comparison with other
Scandinavian countries. It has fluctuated around 3-4% - which means that the Faroes had the lowest unemployment rate in Scandinavia
in 2009. This has changed though in the last months of 2009 and in 2010 where
the unemployment rate has increased to 7%. |
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… that the Faroe Islands have the highest birth rate in
Europe of 2.6 children per couple.
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... that Faroese newborns have the
highest average birth weight in the world... (!) The
average birth weight of 10,132 liveborn infants delivered in the Faroes during
the period 1969-81 was 3,610 grams, which is the highest average weight reported
by 33 countries (http://jech.bmj.com/content/39/1/27.abstract).
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… that the Faroe Islands have the lowest crime rate in the
world. That is the conclusion made in 2007 by a British research team, the
International Centre for Prison Studies at King's College. For every 100.000
inhabitants only 15 Faroese people are in prison. In Denmark and in Sweden
(which are countries considered to have low crime rates) the number is, respectively, 157 and 152 people - i.e. ten times as
many as in the Faroe Islands. In USA the incarceration rate is 760 prisoners per
100.000 inhabitants.On average murders occur maybe only once every
30-40 years in the Faroes the last 100 years. |
