Deaths
515 people died in 2020. That is 33 fewer than in 2019, when 548 people died. Table 3 shows the number of deaths in the municipalities by place of birth and sex
Table 3, Death by year of birth
See table in Statbank| Men | Women | Total | Men | Women | Total | Men | Women | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hele landet | 269 | 221 | 490 | 23 | 2 | 25 | 292 | 223 | 515 |
| Kommune Kujalleq | 34 | 36 | 70 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 36 | 36 | 72 |
| Kommuneqarfik Sermersooq | 82 | 75 | 157 | 13 | 1 | 14 | 95 | 76 | 171 |
| Qeqqata Kommunia | 54 | 34 | 88 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 57 | 34 | 91 |
| Kommune Qeqertalik | 42 | 34 | 76 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 43 | 34 | 77 |
| Avannaata kommunia | 57 | 42 | 99 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 61 | 43 | 104 |
In Chart 7, the 515 deaths are broken down by year of birth. On 1 January 2021, there were 53 people, aged 90 and over, residing in Greenland. The number of Greenlandic-born who have ever turned 100 can be counted on 2 hands.
10 children died in their first 5 years of life, which forms the basis for calculating infant mortality, as shown in Chart 8.
The UN Sustainable Development Goal 3.2.1 focuses on reducing infant mortality to less than 25 per 1,000 live births by 2030. For 2020, infant mortality is estimated at: 14.1 per 1,000 live births
In Chart 9, the year’s monthly distributed deaths are cumulated by month, so that the curve shows the total number of deaths so far this year. For 2020, it appears that restrictions resulting from the pandemic resulted in a lower number of deaths in March and April, which, however, were obtained in the last months of the year. It should be noted that no deaths in 2020, had covid -19 as the cause of death.
Mortality
The average life expectancy for men and women, respectively, is calculated as the overall measure of the development in the population’s mortality. Life expectancy, also called the average life expectancy or residual life expectancy of newborns. The average life expectancy is calculated for each age, and describes the average remaining life expectancy for a person, given that age x has been achieved.
The calculation is made on the basis of age- and gender-specific mortality rates, from which a Lifetable is estimated. The Lifetable shows how a generation of 1,000 newborns is dying out. Chart 10 shows the survival curve for Greenland-born in Nuuk and the rest of the country by gender, respectively.
Especially men living outside Nuuk lose many years of life already at a young age.
For Greenland, mortality is calculated for 2- and 5-year periods, respectively, in order to reduce the influence of random calendar year effects.
It is generally seen that people born in Greenland on average live shorter lives than many of the countries we usually compare ourselves with, but still about 5 years longer than 20 years ago. Also in Greenland, women live on average 4 years longer than men. There is a big difference in the population’s average life expectancy when it is distributed by place of birth (born in or outside Greenland).
Chart 11a shows the average life expectancy in Nuuk / Outside Nuuk, for persons born in Greenland after 1999. It can be seen that the average life expectancy is calculated as longer for the third of the population living in Nuuk. Life expectancy for both men and women is on a par with life expectancy in the Northwest Territories / Nunavut, cf. Chart 11.b.
