The Faroe Islands are administratively divided in 29 municipalities (kommunur), with about 120 cities and villages. Until December 31, 2008, there were 34 municipalities, and until December 31, 2004, there were 48 municipalities. In the coming years the number of Faroese municipalities is expected to drop to somewhere between 7 and 15, as there is currently a rationale towards municipal amalgamation and a decentralization of public services. In 1998 it was suggested that no municipality should have fewer than 2,000 inhabitants, but whether this will be true is a political question. The Faroese government has furthermore decided not to conduct forced, top-down amalgamation, but to leave the process to the free will of the municipalities. In many small municipalities there is some resistance to the amalgamation process, and as a result two kinds of municipalities are being created: large municipalities (town-municipalities) that are eager to attract smaller municipalities into amalgamation, and small municipalities which are either trying to avoid amalgamation or seek to amalgamate with other small municipalities. The geographically large Sunda municipality is an example of this. The larger municipalities are organized in Kommunusamskipan Føroya (KFS) and the smaller are organized in Føroya Kommunufelag (FKF).
List of municipalities As of June 1, 2019, there were 29 municipalities in the Faroe Islands.
Name ofMunicipality Population(January 2024) Inhabitantsper km2 Area(in km2) Markatal Island(s) Region Tórshavn 23,242 134 173 327 Streymoy, Nólsoy, Hestur, Koltur Tórshavn Klaksvík 5,478 47 116.4 Borðoy, Svínoy, Kalsoy Klaksvík Runavík 4,379 44 99.9 Eysturoy Southern Eysturoy Eystur 2,296 55 42 Eysturoy Southern Eysturoy Vágar 2,198 21 102.8 Vágar Vágar Sunda 1,828 12 158 152 Eysturoy, Streymoy Northern Eysturoy;Northern Streymoy Tvøroyri 1,750 41 43 60 Suðuroy Suðuroy Fuglafjørður 1,633 71 23 32 Eysturoy Northern EysturoyNes 1,536 110 14 40 Eysturoy Southern Eysturoy Vágur 1,366 65 21 61 Suðuroy Suðuroy Vestmanna 1,270 24 52 56 Streymoy Streymoy Sørvágur 1,232 15 84 124 Vágar, Mykines Vágar Sjóvar 1,206 37 33 70 Eysturoy Southern EysturoyEiði 806 22 37 49 Eysturoy Northern EysturoyHvalba640164099Suðuroy, Lítla DímunSuðuroyKvívík599124975StreymoyStreymoySandur529114897SandoySandoySkopun4725290SandoySandoyHvannasund426133338Viðoy and BorðoyKlaksvíkViðareiði344123048ViðoyNorðoyggjarSumba335132564SuðuroySuðuroyPorkeri322231437SuðuroySuðuroyKunoy154435.565KunoyNorðoyggjarSkálavík14252924SandoySandoyHov106111024SuðuroySuðuroyHúsavík10242666SandoySandoyFámjin8061324SuðuroySuðuroyFugloy42411.214FugloyNorðoyggjarSkúvoy3231073Skúvoy, Stóra DímunSandoy
History
On 1 January 2017 (30 municipalities reduced to 29): Húsar fused with Klaksvík On 1 January 2009 (34 municipalities reduced to 30): Funningur fused with Runavík. Gøta and Leirvík fused into Eystur. Miðvágur and Sandavágur fused into Vágar. Svínoy fused with Klaksvík. On 1 January 2005 (38 municipalities reduced to 34): Elduvík, Oyndarfjørður and Skála fused with Runavík. Gjógv, Haldarsvík, Hósvík, Hvalvík and Saksun fused with Sunda municipality. Hestur, Kirkjubøur and Nólsoy fused with Tórshavn. Mikladalur fused with Klaksvík. Mykines fused with Sørvágur. On 1 January 1997 Argir and Kaldbak fused with Tórshavn. On 1 August 1948 Funningur split into Funningur and Gjógv.
See also List of towns in the Faroe Islands Regions of the Faroe Islands List of islands of the Faroe Islands Subdivisions of Norden Politics of the Faroe Islands
Notes Hagstova Føroya - information from 2007. Tórshavn is both the capital of the Streymoy region and its own region, the latter being identical with Tórshavn municipality, but not including the area of the former Kollafjarðar kommuna. Klaksvík both capital of the Norðoyggjar region as well of its own region, which constitute of the two municipalities Klaksvík and Hvannasund.
References
Hagstova Føroya - Municipalities by size and width, population growth and density, age and sex - December 31, 2002 (in PDF) Hagstova Føroya - Municipalities by size and width, population growth and density, age and sex - December 31, 2002 (in PDF) Population by municipalities. 1 Jan. 2015 - PDF page 11
External links