Faroe Islands: Individuals using the Internet (% of population)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2017, Faroe Islands' individuals using the Internet (% of population) rose 2.47 percentage points on 2016 (from 95.11% to 97.58%).

Across the 21 yearly changes before that (1996 to 2016), the average change was +4.53 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 3.81 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.5 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 11 percentage points in 1999 and the biggest yearly fall was 0.41 percentage points in 2008. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2008 to 2017 the straight-line trend is upward, about 2.88 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 94% of the movement over 10 observed years.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

A straight-line projection, tested first

Extending that straight line gives about 106.33% for 2020. We show this only because the same method, fitted on earlier years, predicted 2015 to 2017 better than "no change" would have: its average miss was 0.7%, against 2.33% for assuming no change. Treat it as a continuation of the recent pattern, not a forecast of events: it cannot see a recession, a policy change or a revision to the data.

See how a linear trend forecast works and the guide on forecasting without fooling yourself.

How it compares

In 2017, Faroe Islands had the 3rd highest value of the 11 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.

Closest to Faroe Islands in the 2017 ranking

• Bermuda — 1st of 11: 98.37%
• Aruba — 3rd of 11: 97.17%
• New Caledonia — 4th of 11: 82.01%
• Cayman Islands — 5th of 11: 81.07%

What this measures

Internet users are individuals who have used the Internet (from any location) in the last 3 months. The Internet can be used via a computer, mobile phone, personal digital assistant, games machine, digital TV etc.

Limitations: Operators have traditionally been the main source of telecommunications data, so information on subscriptions has been widely available for most countries. This gives a general idea of access, but a more precise measure is the penetration rate - the share of households with access to telecommunications. During the past few years more information on information and communication technology use has become available from household and business surveys. Also important are data on actual use of telecommunications services. Ideally, statistics on telecommunications (and other information and communications technologies) should be compiled for all three measures: subscriptions, access, and use.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.

All 24 values

Individuals using the Internet (% of population) in nearby economies

• Albania — 85.86% (2024)
• Andorra — 94.4% (2024)
• Armenia — 81.34% (2024)
• Austria — 91.93% (2025)
• Azerbaijan — 90.8% (2025)
• Belarus — 94.26% (2024)
• Belgium — 95.78% (2024)
• Bosnia and Herzegovina — 86.1% (2024)
• Bulgaria — 82.44% (2024)
• Croatia

More infrastructure data for Faroe Islands

• Fixed telephone subscriptions — 14,940 (2022)
• Fixed telephone subscriptions (per 100 people) — 27.66 (2022)
• Mobile cellular subscriptions — 57,146 (2022)
• Mobile cellular subscriptions (per 100 people) — 105.8 (2022)
• Fixed broadband subscriptions — 18,681 (2022)
• Fixed broadband subscriptions (per 100 people) — 34.59 (2022)
• Liner shipping connectivity index (maximum value in 2004 = 100) — 6.04 (2021)
• Secure Internet servers — 624 (2024)
• Secure Internet servers (per 1 million people) — 11,420 (2024)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is Faroe Islands's individuals using the Internet (% of population)?

97.58% in 2017, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1990?

It is up 97.58 percentage points from 0% in 1990. The highest value was 97.58% in 2017 and the lowest 0% in 1990.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator IT.NET.USER.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), uri: https://datahub.itu.int/ Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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