The invention relates to a fingerprint identification method based on a sparse matrix. The method is characterized by comprising the following steps that hardware of a fingerprint identification system is initialized, fingerprint signals are detected, fingerprint images are collected, relevant information is obtained, the fingerprint images are preprocessed, finger non-detail feature points are extracted, fingerprint identification matching is carried out by utilizing a sparse matrix fingerprint matching algorithm, the matching degree of fingerprints is calculated, comparison is carried out according to the matching degree and a set fingerprint matching degree threshold value, whether the fingerprints are matched or not is judged, and an identification result is transmitted to a hardware platform of a fingerprint identification device to be displayed. Meanwhile, the invention relates to the ARM fingerprint identification device based on the sparse matrix. The fingerprint identification device is used for achieving the fingerprint identification method based on the sparse matrix. According to the method and device, fingerprint identification is carried out, and the method and device are high in identification rate of fingerprint identification, high in speed of fingerprint identification, low in false rejection rate and false identification rate of fingerprint identification, high in reliability and strong in operability. The fingerprint identification method can be applied to the fields of internets, computers, entrance guards and the like. Along with the continuous improvement of requirements of people for encryption techniques, the fingerprint identification method and device have good market prospects in fingerprint identification.