Population

Greenland´s population lives exclusively at the coast: in towns and settlements. About 60 per cent live in the five largest towns Nuuk, Sisimiut, Ilulissat, Aasiaat and Qaqortoq. Most of the population is of Greenlandic ancestry. The remainder is predominantly Danish, though it has become increasingly international lately. From the 1960´s on, the town populations have been growing rapidly, absorbing the net population growth as well as the migration from the settlements. This trend has been continuing for the last 40 years.

Greenland has a total populace overweight of men, as the workforce born outside of Greenland consists of 2/3 men and 1/3 women.

Compared to the population size in Greenland, the internal migrations are significant, and have a big impact on the populace composition. An internal migration from outer districts to towns, primarily to Nuuk, has been going on for the last 50 years.

The majority of migrants are citizens of the Danish Kingdom, who move from Denmark to Greenland or vice versa. Greenland´s constant need for summoned workforce requires the net emigration of foreign nationals to be continuously countered by immigration. Over time, the foreign net immigration is at a balance. This is not the case for the Greenlandic -born population segment. From this, the net emigration has been averagely 370 persons a year for the last ten years.

Around 850 persons are born every year, and around 500 die. Men and women born in Greenland have a shorter life expectancy than the average of the western world. This is primarily due to a high mortality rate caused by accidents and suicide. In Greenland, men live to the age of 68.3 years on average, while women live to the age of 73.0 years.

The general birth pattern has remained stable during the last ten years. Towns differ from settlements in fertility rate. Women in settlements give birth to more children than those in towns. However, fertility in the settlements has decreased in the past few years. In the start 1960´s, the general fertility was very high, causing the Health Authority to launch campaigns for contraceptive pills and intrauterine devices. Also, abortion was legalized in 1975. Even today, pregnancies more often result in legal abortions than in live births. However, since the start 1970´s, the fertility total has been constant, at around 2.1 births per woman.