Demographics
The vast majority of the population are ethnic Faroese, of Norse and Scottish descent.
Recent DNA analyses have revealed that Y chromosomes, tracing male descent, are 87% Scandinavian. The studies show that mitochondrial DNA, tracing female descent, is 84% Scottish.
Of the approximately 48,500 inhabitants of the Faroe Islands (16,921 private households (2004)), Faroese are 91.7%, Danes 5.8%, Greenlanders 0.3%. The largest group of foreigners is Danes, comprising 5.8%, followed by Greenlanders, Icelanders, Norwegians and Poles. The Faroe Islands have people consisting of 77 different nationalities.
Faroese is spoken in the entire area as a first language. It is difficult to say exactly how many people worldwide speak the Faroese language, as many ethnic Faroese live in Denmark, and few who are born there return to the Faroes with their parents or as adults.
The Faroese language is one of the least-spoken of the Germanic languages. Faroese grammar and vocabulary are most similar to Icelandic and to their ancestor Old Norse. In contrast, spoken Faroese is very different from Icelandic and is closer to Norwegian dialects of the west coast of Norway. While Faroese is the main language in the islands, both Faroese and Danish are official languages.
Faroese language policy provides for the active creation of new terms in Faroese suitable for modern life.
Read more about this topic: Faroe Islands