Guide to Greenland Introduction Background: The world's largest island, Greenland is about 81% ice-capped. Vikings reached the island in the 10th century from Iceland; Danish colonization began in the 18th century and Greenland was made an integral part of Denmark in 1953. It joined the European Community (now the European Union) with Denmark in 1973 but withdrew in 1985 over a dispute over stringent fishing quotas. Greenland was granted self-government in 1979 by the Danish parliament. The law went into effect the following year. Denmark continues to exercise control of Greenland's foreign affairs.
Geography Location: Northern North America, island between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean, northeast of Canada
Geographic coordinates: 72 00 N, 40 00 W
Map references: Arctic Region
Area: total
Area - comparative: slightly more than three times the size of Texas
Land boundaries: 0 km
Coastline: 44,087 km
Maritime claims: territorial sea
Climate: arctic to subarctic; cool summers, cold winters
Terrain: flat to gradually sloping icecap covers all but a narrow, mountainous, barren, rocky coast
Elevation extremes: lowest point
Natural resources: coal, iron ore, lead, zinc, molybdenum, gold, platinum, uranium, fish, seals, whales, hydropower, possible oil and gas
Land use: arable land
Irrigated land: NA sq km
Natural hazards: continuous permafrost over northern two-thirds of the island
Environment - current issues: protection of the arctic environment; preservation of the Inuit traditional way of life, including whaling and seal hunting
Geography - note: dominates North Atlantic Ocean between North America and Europe; sparse population confined to small settlements along coast, but close to one-quarter of the population lives in the capital, Nuuk; world's second largest ice cap
People Population: 56,375 (July 2005 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years
Median age: total
Population growth rate: -0.02% (2005 est.)
Birth rate: 15.93 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Death rate: 7.77 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Net migration rate: -8.37 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Sex ratio: at birth
Infant mortality rate: total
Life expectancy at birth: total population
Total fertility rate: 2.41 children born/woman (2005 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: NA%
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 100 (1999)
HIV/AIDS - deaths: NA
Nationality: noun
Ethnic groups: Greenlander 88% (Inuit and Greenland-born whites), Danish and others 12% (January 2000)
Religions: Evangelical Lutheran
Languages: Greenlandic (East Inuit), Danish, English
Literacy: definition
Government Country name: conventional long form
Dependency status: part of the Kingdom of Denmark; self-governing overseas administrative division of Denmark since 1979
Government type: parliamentary democracy within a constitutional monarchy
Capital: Nuuk (Godthab)
Administrative divisions: 3 districts (landsdele); Avannaa (Nordgronland), Tunu (Ostgronland), Kitaa (Vestgronland) note
Independence: none (part of the Kingdom of Denmark; foreign affairs is the responsibility of Denmark, but Greenland actively participates in international agreements relating to Greenland)
National holiday: June 21 (longest day)
Constitution: 5 June 1953 (Danish constitution)
Legal system: Danish
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
Executive branch: chief of state
Legislative branch: unicameral Parliament or Landstinget (31 seats; members are elected by popular vote on the basis of proportional representation to serve four-year terms) elections
Judicial branch: High Court or Landsret (appeals can be made to the Ostre Landsret or Eastern Division of the High Court or Supreme Court in Copenhagen)
Political parties and leaders: Atassut Party (Solidarity, a conservative party favoring continuing close relations with Denmark) [Augusta SALLING]; Demokratiit [Per BERTHELSEN]; Inuit Ataqatigiit or IA (Eskimo Brotherhood, a leftist party favoring complete independence from Denmark rather than home rule) [Josef MOTZFELDT]; Issituup (Polar Party) [Nicolai HEINRICH]; Kattusseqatigiit (Candidate List, an independent right-of-center party with no official platform [leader NA]; Siumut (Forward Party, a social democratic party advocating more distinct Greenlandic identity and greater autonomy from Denmark) [Hans ENOKSEN]
Political pressure groups and leaders: NA
International organization participation: NC, NIB, UPU
Diplomatic representation in the US: none (self-governing overseas administrative division of Denmark)
Diplomatic representation from the US: none (self-governing overseas administrative division of Denmark)
Flag description: two equal horizontal bands of white (top) and red with a large disk slightly to the hoist side of center - the top half of the disk is red, the bottom half is white
Economy Economy - overview: The economy remains critically dependent on exports of fish and substantial support from the Danish Government, which supplies about half of government revenues. The public sector, including publicly-owned enterprises and the municipalities, plays the dominant role in the economy. Despite several interesting hydrocarbon and minerals exploration activities, it will take several years before production can materialize. Tourism is the only sector offering any near-term potential, and even this is limited due to a short season and high costs.
GDP (purchasing power parity): $1.1 billion (2001 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 1.8% (2001 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $20,000 (2001 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture
Labor force: 24,500 (1999 est.)
Unemployment rate: 10% (2000 est.)
Population below poverty line: NA%
Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 1.6% (1999 est.)
Budget: revenues
Agriculture - products: forage crops, garden and greenhouse vegetables; sheep, reindeer; fish
Industries: fish processing (mainly shrimp and Greenland halibut); gold, niobium, tantalite, uranium, iron and diamond mining; handicrafts, hides and skins, small shipyards
Industrial production growth rate: NA%
Electricity - production: 245 million kWh (2002)
Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel
Electricity - consumption: 227.9 million kWh (2002)
Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (2002)
Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (2002)
Oil - production: 0 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption: 3,700 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports: NA
Oil - imports: NA
Exports: $388 million f.o.b. (2002)
Exports - commodities: fish and fish products 94% (prawns 63%)
Exports - partners: Denmark 63.8%, Japan 12.6%, China 3.9% (2004)
Imports: $445 million c.i.f. (2002)
Imports - commodities: machinery and transport equipment, manufactured goods, food, petroleum products
Imports - partners: Denmark 78.7%, Sweden 11.9%, Norway 2.7% (2004)
Debt - external: $25 million (1999)
Economic aid - recipient: $380 million subsidy from Denmark (1997)
Currency (code): Danish krone (DKK)
Currency code: DKK
Exchange rates: Danish kroner per US dollar - 5.9911 (2004), 6.5877 (2003), 7.8947 (2002), 8.3228 (2001), 8.0831 (2000)
Fiscal year: calendar year
Communications Telephones - main lines in use: 26,000 (2001)
Telephones - mobile cellular: 16,747 (2001)
Telephone system: general assessment
Radio broadcast stations: AM 5, FM 12, shortwave 0 (1998)
Radios: 30,000 (1998 est.)
Television broadcast stations: 1 publicly-owned station, some local low-power stations, and three AFRTS (US Air Force) stations (1997)
Televisions: 30,000 (1998 est.)
Internet country code: .gl
Internet hosts: 2,642 (2004)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 1 (2000)
Internet users: 20,000 (2002)
Transportation Highways: total
Ports and harbors: Sisimiut
Merchant marine: total
Airports: 14 (2004 est.)
Airports - with paved runways: total
Airports - with unpaved runways: total
Military Military - note: defense is the responsibility of Denmark
Transnational Issues Disputes - international: uncontested dispute between Canada and Denmark over Hans Island in the Kennedy Channel between Canada's Ellesmere Island and Greenland
Last updated: 20 October, 2005
| Weather Statistics | Narsarsuaq |
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | June | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | | Prcp | 46mm | 36mm | 40mm | 41mm | 37mm | 51mm | 64mm | 65mm | 79mm | 56mm | 67mm | 60mm |
| Source: Global Historical Climatology Network |
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