Faroe Islands

Constituent / territory of Denmark.

EuropeCapital city: TorshavnCapital metro: Torshavn
2026 population
55K
Rank #218 globally
Area
1k km² (538 sq mi)
Metros tracked
11
85% of population in metros
Composite score
2.6
Rank #167 globally

population: Monthly national estimate (1 May 2026) · indicators as of 2026-09-05 · 11 metros tracked

🗺️ Geography11 metros

Faroe Islands metro footprint, shaded by composite tier.

Loading map…
11 polygons

Hover for rank, click to open the metro page. Boundaries derived from Overture Maps administrative divisions; metros without source coverage are omitted.

🏙️ 11 tracked metros
11 metros
🗂️ Regions

10 entries listed under Faroe Islands. Click any to see its metros and footprint.

10 total
📋 At a glance
Official languages
Danish, Faroese
Legislature
Løgting
Time zone
UTC±00:00
Driving side
Right
Calling code
+298
Internet TLD
.fo
ISO 3166
FO
Established
1948
Highest point
Slættaratindur (880 m (2,887 ft))
National anthem
Tú alfagra land mítt

Facts via Wikidata.

💹 Economy and developmentHigh income
GDP
$4.1B
World Bank · 2024
GDP per capita
$74.2k
World Bank · 2024
GDP/capita (PPP)
$82.1k
World Bank · 2024
GNI/capita (Atlas)
$73.1k
World Bank · 2024
Life expectancy
83.1 yrs
World Bank · 2024
Median age
37.3 yrs
UN WPP · 2023
Urban population
40%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. growth
0.5%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. density
40/km²
World Bank · 2023
Foreign-born
14.6%
World Bank · 2024
Internet users
98%
World Bank · 2017
CO₂ per capita
13.1 t
Global Carbon Budget · 2024
Renewable electricity
47%
Ember · 2023

Ranks are among sovereign countries with data; ★ marks a top-5% finish. Sources: World Bank Open Data and Our World in Data (UNDP, UN WPP, V-Dem, Global Carbon Budget, Ember, Energy Institute; CC BY 4.0). Each card credits its originating body. Renewable share is of electricity generation, not of primary energy. Each figure is the most recent year available.

📈 Power over timeThe Power Atlas →
Today
Minor#161 · 0.0%
3%5%8%10%2000
Power (headline share)Latent (material mass)Recognised (standing)
Faroe Islands · share of world power, 1991–2026

The powerline is the headline share of world power, running from the state’s first ranked year (benchmark estimates with wide error bars before 1816). Latent power is material mass a state could mobilise (population, manpower, heavy industry). Recognised power is what the system actually treats it as (military spending, productive economy, reach, and status such as a Security Council seat or nuclear arsenal). When latent runs above recognised, a power is rising or under-rated; when recognised runs higher, it is punching above its weight or coasting on prestige. Material sub-indices run 1816 through 2016.

👥 Population over time
Population 2023
55k
#210 in the world
Since 1800
35×
from 2k
Peak
2023
at its largest now
Share of world
0.00%
0.00% in 1800
14k28k42k57k18001850190019502000
Faroe Islands · people, 1800–2023 · dashed to 2026 is projected

Our World in Data population (CC BY): UN WPP 2024 from 1950, Gapminder v7 1800-1949, HYDE 3.3 earlier; today's borders. Figures above are as of 2023, the last year that is estimated rather than forecast. The dashed tail to 2026 is a UN WPP medium-variant projection. It is drawn because the line should reach the present, and drawn differently because it has not happened yet: no rank, peak or share on this page uses it. Before 1950 the series is reconstruction rather than contemporaneous statistics, which is worth knowing when a country’s peak sits back there. The current population shown elsewhere on this page comes from the workbook and is unchanged by this. Note that people and share of world can move in opposite directions. A country can grow steadily and still become a smaller part of humanity, which is what happened to almost every rich country after 1960.

👥 To 2100

The UN’s probabilistic projection for Faroe Islands: the median with its 80% and 95% bands, the UN’s own high, low and zero-migration scenarios beside it. Not this site’s model; the site reads it and says what it implies.

Peak on the median
2079
65k on the UN median
2050
63k
95% band 43k to 100k
2100
63k
95% band 21k to 221k
2100 against 2025
1.13×
median falling from 2080
Deaths outnumber births
from 2081
on the UN medium path; migration decides the rest
58k116k174k232k1950197520002025205020752100

Tap or drag across the chart to read any year: the estimate to 2023, then the UN median, its bands and the scenarios.

estimateUN median80% and 95% bandshigh and low fertilityzero migration

What drives it

Births, deaths and net migration on the UN medium path, with fertility, life expectancy and median age, every decade from 1950.

1950
878 born · 415 died · -157 net migration
TFR 3.85 · life expectancy 60.6 · median age 24.6
1960
788 born · 266 died · -63 net migration
TFR 3.85 · life expectancy 72.0 · median age 25.2
1970
817 born · 270 died · -155 net migration
TFR 3.42 · life expectancy 74.8 · median age 25.3
1980
740 born · 313 died · +119 net migration
TFR 2.47 · life expectancy 75.8 · median age 27.3
1990
961 born · 372 died · -1k net migration
TFR 2.78 · life expectancy 76.9 · median age 30.0
2000
686 born · 403 died · +301 net migration
TFR 2.56 · life expectancy 78.3 · median age 33.8
2010
643 born · 477 died · -780 net migration
TFR 2.50 · life expectancy 78.7 · median age 36.7
2020
676 born · 546 died · +548 net migration
TFR 2.36 · life expectancy 80.0 · median age 37.9
Show all 16 decades
2030
763 born · 536 died · +126 net migration
TFR 2.13 · life expectancy 81.6 · median age 37.6
2040
783 born · 559 died · +4 net migration
TFR 2.04 · life expectancy 83.4 · median age 38.2
2050
736 born · 591 died · +17 net migration
TFR 1.97 · life expectancy 85.0 · median age 40.2
2060
705 born · 611 died · -9 net migration
TFR 1.92 · life expectancy 86.4 · median age 41.8
2070
696 born · 619 died · -10 net migration
TFR 1.88 · life expectancy 87.8 · median age 43.1
2080
652 born · 646 died · -27 net migration
TFR 1.85 · life expectancy 89.0 · median age 44.6
2090
610 born · 673 died · -40 net migration
TFR 1.82 · life expectancy 90.2 · median age 46.4
2100
583 born · 695 died · -44 net migration
TFR 1.79 · life expectancy 91.3 · median age 47.9

Every country to 2100 →

Source: United Nations, DESA, Population Division. World Population Prospects 2024. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 IGO. Estimates to 2023; projections 2024 to 2100, medium variant and probabilistic intervals. The UN revises every two years; this is the WPP 2024 revision.

🏆 National Teams

Faroe Islands on the international stage. Click a card for the full record.