Who Owns the Faroe Islands?

Nobody owns the Faroe Islands. They are a self-governing nation within the Kingdom of Denmark — not a company, not a colony and not a Danish province. The islands run their own parliament, laws, budget, flag and language, and they are not in the European Union even though Denmark is. Companies House holds nothing, because a territory cannot be registered. Ownership verified 6 September 2026.

Who owns Faroe Islands today?

No one, in the sense this site usually means. There are no shares, no shareholder and no owner.

The Faroes are one of three parts of the Kingdom of Denmark — alongside Denmark proper and Greenland — under an arrangement Danish constitutional law calls the rigsfællesskab, the unity of the realm. Sovereignty rests with the Kingdom; almost everything else rests with the Faroes.

The islands have their own parliament, the Løgting, one of the oldest legislatures in the world, and their own government. Roughly 54,000 people live across eighteen islands in the North Atlantic, between Scotland and Iceland.

Ultimate parent and corporate structure

The closest thing to a corporate structure is the division of powers, and it has moved a long way in the Faroes’ favour.

The Home Rule Act of 1948 transferred most domestic responsibilities. The Takeover Act of 2005 went further, letting the Faroes assume any field of responsibility they choose, at their own expense, without needing Denmark’s agreement each time.

What Denmark still handles: the constitution, citizenship, the supreme court, defence and monetary policy. Foreign affairs are shared — the Faroes negotiate their own fisheries and trade agreements, which is unusual for a territory that is not a sovereign state.

Denmark pays an annual block grant, and its share of the Faroese economy has been falling for decades as the islands’ own revenues have grown. The Faroes send two members to the Danish Folketing.

Major shareholders or controlling persons

There are none. Sovereign territory is not held by anyone in a way that can be transferred, sold or inherited — a point worth stating plainly, because territories are periodically the subject of speculation about being bought.

Political control sits with the Faroese electorate through the Løgting. Independence is a live and long-standing question in Faroese politics: a 1946 referendum produced a narrow majority for independence which was not implemented, and home rule followed in 1948. Parties on both sides of the question have governed since.

The economy is dominated by fisheries and salmon farming, which account for the overwhelming majority of exports. The listed salmon producer Bakkafrost is a Faroese company of real international scale — but that is a company that can be owned, and it is not the same thing as owning the islands.

Official records and evidence

Nothing on this page comes from Companies House. The Faroe Islands are not registered there and have no PSC register, because no beneficial ownership regime applies to a nation.

The authoritative sources are the Danish constitution, the Home Rule Act 1948 and the Takeover Act 2005, together with the Faroese government’s own publications. The islands maintain their own company register, separate from Denmark’s and from Britain’s, so Faroese businesses do not appear on Companies House either.

One practical note for anyone researching Faroese companies from Britain: because the Faroes are outside the EU, EU-wide company and beneficial ownership directives do not apply there, and the transparency regime is its own. A Faroese company is no more visible on a UK or EU register than an Icelandic one.

Ownership history and changes

The islands were settled by Norse people from the ninth century, with earlier Irish monastic settlement.

• c. 1035 — come under the Kingdom of Norway.
• 1380 — pass to Denmark–Norway under the union of the crowns.
• 1814 — the Treaty of Kiel separates Norway from Denmark; the Faroes, Iceland and Greenland stay with Denmark. This is the decisive moment, and it was not the islands’ choice.
• 1940–1945 — British forces occupy the islands after Germany invades Denmark, to keep them out of German hands. The occupation is remembered locally as friendly, and the Faroese flag was first officially recognised by Britain during it.
• 1946 — a referendum narrowly favours independence; the result is set aside.
• 1948 — the Home Rule Act.
• 1973 — Denmark joins the EEC; the Faroes decline to join, to protect their fisheries.
• 2005 — the Takeover Act.

The 1973 decision is the one with the most lasting consequences. Because the Faroes stayed out, they kept control of their fishing waters — and they remained outside the EU when Britain left it, which made them an obvious early trading partner.

Related companies and brands

The Faroes are not part of any group, but the British connection is more concrete than most people realise. In 2019 the UK signed a free trade agreement with the Faroe Islands — among the first trade deals Britain concluded in its own right after leaving the EU, and a direct consequence of the islands having stayed outside it in 1973.

Faroese salmon and whitefish are a significant presence in British supermarkets, generally sold under retailers’ own brands rather than identified by origin.

The Faroes are not Iceland — a sovereign state, and also the name of a British frozen food retailer whose ownership is covered elsewhere on this site. Nor are they Greenland, which has its own separate home rule arrangement within the same Kingdom. The three are routinely confused, and only one of them can be bought: none of them.