INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS
In Figure 1, the economic prosperity in the Nordic countries and in the USA and Canada is compared on the basis of the annual gathering of data from the national accounts concerning GNI per capita. The data is also made more comparable by adjustments via the so-called purchasing power parities. This can partially eliminate the fact that changes in exchange rates do not necessarily reflect price differences. An example of a purchasing power parity study between Greenland and Denmark from 1994 is cited.
The United States has the highest GDP per capita, followed by Norway, whose high position on the wealth scale is largely due to its oil resources. The other Nordic countries and Canada are all among the twenty highest-ranking countries. Greenland is located slightly below and ranks - by estimate - as number thirty.
Figure 1
GNI per Capita for Select Countries in 2005
Source: World Development Indicators, the World Bank
It is particularly interesting to compare changes in the levels of prosperity with those of Denmark. The development is shown in Figure 2.
Up until 1990 the available GNI per capita of Greenland was a bit over that of Denmark. This was among other things due to a long economic crisis in Denmark in the 1980s while there was a boom in Greenland. Then things changed and in 2005 the disposable GNI per inhabitant in Denmark was approximately DKK 300.000 compared to around DKK 249.000 in Greenland. The figures are not adjusted for differences in purchasing power. A survey of purchasing power differences in 1992 showed that the Greenlandic price level is 20-25 per cent higher than in Denmark. If this remains true, this would further increase that difference.
Figure 2
Available GNI per Capita
