fish, raising sheep, and tourism are important parts of the economy of the faroe islands. the economy was in trouble around 1990. unemployment decreased in the later 1990s. it was down to about 6% at the end of 1998. by june 2008 unemployment had declined to 1.1%, before rising to 3.4% in early 2009. however, since fishing is so important to the economy, if there are problems with fishing, the economy could be in trouble since 2000, new business projects have been created in the faroe islands to attract new investment. the introduction of burger king in tórshavn was widely publicized but no one knows how things will go for this company. trades on the islands are easy by the bridges or the tunnels that connect 80% of the population in the islands.