Greenland | Facts & Information

Map of Greenland

Facts & Figures

• Status: Autonomous part of Denmark

  Chief of State: Queen Margrethe II (1972)

  High Commissioner: Mikaela Engell (2011)

  Prime Minister (Acting): Kim Kielsen (2014)

  Total area: 131,931 sq mi (341,701 sq km)

  Population (2014 est.): 57,728 (growth rate: 0.02%); birth rate: 14.53/1000; infant mortality rate: 9.42/1000; life expectancy: 71.82

  Capital and largest city (2011 est.): Nuuk, 16,000

  Monetary unit: Krone

  Languages: Greenlandic (East Inuit), Danish, English

  Ethnicity/race: Inuit 89%, Danish and other 11% (2009)

  Religion: Evangelical Lutheran, traditional Inuit spiritual beliefs

  National Holiday: Longest Day, June 21

  Literacy rate: 100%

  Economic summary: GDP/PPP: (2011 est.): $2.133 billion; $38,400 per capita. Real growth rate: 3%. Inflation: 2.8% (2011 est.). Unemployment: 9.4% (2013 est.). Arable land: 0%. Agriculture: forage crops, garden and greenhouse vegetables; sheep, reindeer; fish . Labor force: 28,600 (2011 est.). Industries: fish processing (mainly shrimp and Greenland halibut); gold, niobium, tantalite, uranium, iron and diamond mining; handicrafts, hides and skins, small shipyards. Natural resources: zinc, lead, iron ore, coal, molybdenum, gold, platinum, uranium, fish, seals, whales, hydropower, possible oil and gas. Exports: $384.3 million (2010 est.): fish and fish products 89% (prawns 63%), metals 10%. Imports: $814.2 million (2010): machinery and transport equipment, manufactured goods, food, petroleum products. Major trading partners: Denmark, Japan, China, Sweden, Netherlands (2012).

  Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 18,900 (2012); mobile cellular: 59,455 (2012). Broadcast media: the Greenland Broadcasting Company provides public radio and TV services throughout the island with a broadcast station and a series of repeaters; a few private local TV and radio stations; Danish public radio rebroadcasts are available (2007). Internet hosts: 15,645 Internet users: 36,000 (2009).

  Transportation: Roadways: although there are short roads in towns, there are no roads between towns; inter-urban transport takes place either by sea or air (2012). Ports and harbors: Sisimiut Airports: 15 (2013).

  International disputes: managed dispute between Canada and Denmark over Hans Island in the Kennedy Channel between Canada's Ellesmere Island and Greenland; Denmark (Greenland) and Norway have made submissions to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental shelf (CLCS) and Russia is collecting additional data to augment its 2001 CLCS submission.

  Major sources and definitions