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Demographics
Home » Falkland Islands » Falkland Islands - People and Culture » DemographicsThe population of the Falkland Islands is approximately 2,967, most of which are of British descent. Those from the United Kingdom who have obtained Falkland Island status are now known locally as “belongers.” In the capital city of Stanley, you can see evidence of British roots: pubs, neat gardens in front of Jubilee Villas, British “bobbies,” red mailboxes, the union flag outside Government House, and even the street names in the town.
Those living in the Falklands call themselves “islanders.” Outsiders often call islanders “kelpers,” which comes from the kelp that grows around the islands, although the term is no longer used in the Islands.
There are some of Scandinavian descents as well; some are descendents of whalers who came to the Islands during the last two centuries. In the phone book you will see names like Clausen, Henrickson, Pettersson, and Bernsten. There is also a small minority from South America, mainly from Chile. While the farms once looked to Chile when short on labor, now the Chilean community in the Falklands are more likely to be found working in electronics or other technical fields in Stanley. In addition, given the chronic unemployment in St. Helena for many years, an increasing number of these “saints” (as they are called) have opted to leave their warm island home for better job prospects and a more secure future in the windier and cooler Falkland Islands. Over time many have moved from the Mount Pleasant air base to live and work in Stanley where they are beginning to integrate into the society there.
There is no recorded evidence of an original indigenous population, but the Islands have had waves of settlement and immigration in its somewhat short history. The largest influx of British people came during the 1840s when a sizeable contingent of Royal Marines and military prisoners came to the Islands. When they arrived, there was a mixture of South American gauchos, shipwrecked mariners of all nations, sealers, whalers, and adventures in the Islands. Members of the Biggs, Short, and Felton families living in the Islands today trace their ancestry back as far as seven generations to those same pioneers.
You can also find Scottish names in the telephone directory of the Falkland Islands. Many of their ancestors came to the Islands to be shepherds with the introduction of sheep in the late 1800s. Many of them had been rejected by their native land so they came to the Falklands where they were hard-working, thrifty, and industrious. They left their own traditions and joined the lifestyle of the South Americans and gauchos who came before them.
While Stanley has a British feel, “the camp,” the term used for everywhere else in the Falklands, has a distinctly South American feel. You will find places with these names in camp: Rincon Grande, Dos Lomos, Cantera, Tranquilidad, Laguna Isola, and Saladero.
Since 1982, the Islands have had a larger British military presence with 2,000 living at the Mount Pleasant air base complex. Along with military personnel, this also includes civilian employees of the MOD and contractors responsible for the provision and maintenance of services at the base. The military rotates every four months, while the civilians form a more permanent community in the Falklands.
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