Net migration at an all-time high

The Faroes are currently enjoying record-high net migration figures. New migration patterns, with decreasing emigration and increasing immigration, are a key reason for this change in the population figures.

We need to go all the way back to 1980 to find emigration figures as low as the 1,225 citizens who emigrated from the Faroes in the past year, according to Statistics Faroe Islands.

An upward spiral

In terms of emigration relative to the total population, the figures have not been this low in the past 50 years, which is as far back as Statistic Faroe Islands’ records show.

While emigration figures have been relatively steady over the past five years, averaging at 1,200 emigrants per year, the immigration figures continue to rise, and this figure is now approaching 1,800 per year.

Compared with the 2009-2013 period, the annual emigration figure has decreased by about 550 while the immigration figure has increased by about 500. In other words, a negative net migration figure of 500 has turned into a positive one of 550 over the past year.

Translated by prosa.fo