Islam by country · Europe
Islam in Faroe Islands: history and Muslim population data
Explore CoMPS research on the historical journey of Islam in Faroe Islands, alongside population data and an interactive timeline.
Open Faroe Islands in the interactive map
History of Islam in Faroe Islands
It is a self-governing overseas administrative division of the Kingdom of Denmark since 1948. The Islands belonged to Norway until 1380, when they became under Danish control. It has an area of 1,393 sq km and its map is presented in Figure 4.4.2. It consists mainly of eighteen islands: Streymoy (374 sq km) where the capital is located and where almost half of the population lives, Eysturoy (286 sq km) where almost a quarter of the population lives, Vágar (176 sq km), Suðuroy (165 sq km), Sandoy (111 sq km), Borðoy (95 sq km), Viðoy (41 sq km), Kunoy (35 sq km), Kalsoy (31 sq km), Svínoy (27 sq km), Fugloy (11 sq km), Nólsoy (10 sq km), Mykines (10 sq km), Skúvoy (10 sq km), Hestur (6 sq km), Stóra Dímun (3 sq km), Koltur (2 sq km) and Lítla Dímun (1 sq km), which is uninhabited.
Muslims moved here from Denmark for economic reasons towards the end of the twentieth century. The first census inquiring on religious adherence was held in 2011 and collected information from population aged fifteen years and older. It also provided information on when the person came to the islands and their place of birth. From such data we deduce older statistics. Accordingly, the Muslim population increased from one or 0.00% in 1979, to thirteen or 0.04% in 1999, to 23 or 0.07% in 2011. Thus, assuming that the percentage of Muslims will continue to increase by 0.05 of a percentage point per decade; then the Muslim population is expected to reach 150 or 0.3% by 2050 and 300 or 0.5% by 2100.
Historical Muslim population dataset for Faroe Islands
The figures below are from the CoMPS historical dataset. Population values are expressed in thousands; 2100 is a modelled projection, not a present-day count.
| Year | Total population (thousands) | Muslim population (thousands) | Muslim share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1900 | 15.20 | 0.000 | 0.00% |
| 2000 | 45.36 | 0.018 | 0.04% |
| 2100 | 68.48 | 0.342 | 0.50% |
For the full time series and visualisation, use the interactive map above.