Structure
Gender, age and marital status
Overview 1
Population by gender
|
|
1980 |
1985 |
1990 |
1995 |
2000 |
2005 |
2010 |
|
|
|||||||
|
Total |
49.773 |
52.940 |
55.558 |
55.732 |
56.107 |
56.969 |
56.452 |
|
Men |
27.019 |
28.772 |
30.057 |
29.706 |
29.979 |
30.319 |
29.936 |
|
Women |
22.754 |
24.168 |
25.501 |
26.026 |
26.128 |
26.650 |
26.516 |
|
|
|
||||||
|
Men |
54,28 |
54,35 |
54,1 |
53,3 |
53,43 |
53,22 |
53,03 |
|
Women |
45,72 |
45,65 |
45,9 |
46,7 |
46,57 |
46,78 |
46,97 |
Source: Statistics Greenland
More men than women are living in Greenland, as 53 percent are men. Generally there is a surplus of men in the working ages. Only in the oldest age groups women outnumbers men.
This is primary due to a group of men, born outside Greenland. This group, attracted by work, consist of double as many men as women.
Figure 1
Population pyramides. 2000 and 2010
Source: Statistics Greenland
The Greenlandic population is young. 8.4 percent of the population is over 62 years and only 0.74 percent has turned 80 years.
The dependency ratio shows the ratio between people out of the working ages and the number of people in the active ages.
When setting the working ages to 20-62 years, the ’dependency ratio’ by January 1st 2010 is calculated to 0.65. This means, that for every 100 persons in the working ages, 65 persons, needs support. A view back in time shows, that the ’dependency ratio’ in 1979 was 0.92, that is a much higher ratio than today. Ever since the mid 1990s the ratio has been around 65 per 100 in work.
This, by the way, is pretty close to the world average when the working ages are counted as 15- 64 years. (see 2010 World Population Data Sheet Population Reference Bureau - www.prb.org)
Figure 2
Ratio of never-married, born in Greenland by age and gender. 1980 and 2010
Source: Statistics Greenland
Figure 2 shows that over the past 30 years it has become more common to stay unmarried. This is even more outspoken for men than women.
Place of birth and citizenship
We often split the population by birthplace with the categories ’born in Greenland’ and ’born outside Greenland’ as average considerations otherwise will hide important demographic differences between the groups. At the same time the proportion of people born outside Greenland has decreased from 17.7 percent in 1980 to 11 percent in 2010.
In overview 2 the population has been tabulated by persons own ‘place of birth’ as well as parents ‘place of birth’. From the table it is seen that 50,226 or 89 percent of the population was born in Greenland.
Overview 2
Population by own and parents place of birth. 2010
|
|
|
Both parents birthplace |
One parent born outside Greenland |
|||
|
Own birthplace |
Total |
Greenland |
Outside Greenland |
Unknown |
Second parent born in Greenland |
Second parent unknown |
|
Total |
56.452 |
32.947 |
751 |
13.068 |
9.409 |
277 |
|
Greenland |
50.226 |
32.521 |
286 |
8.560 |
8.747 |
112 |
|
Outside Grønland |
6.226 |
426 |
465 |
4.508 |
662 |
165 |
Source: Statistics Greenland
In overview 2 the population additionally has been calculated by the parents birthplace. It is seen, that 42.356 (32.947 + 9.409) equal to 75 percent of the population has at least one parent born in Greenland. Our archives do not hold information on the parents birthplace for 23,6 percent of the population. This is either because the parents can’t be found in CPR (Danish register on persons), or because the live outside Denmark or Greenland or because they died prior to 1967, when the system was introduced.
Overview 3
Population with strong family ties to Greenland. 2010
|
|
|
Both parents birthplace |
One parent born in Greenland |
|
|
|
Total |
Greenland |
Unknown |
Second parent born outside Greenland |
|
Total |
50.916 |
32.947 |
8.560 |
9.409 |
|
Greenland |
49.828 |
32.521 |
8.560 |
8.747 |
|
Outside Greenland |
1.088 |
426 |
… |
662 |
Source: Statistics Greenland
If at least one parent was born in Greenland, the person is said to have strong family ties to Greenland. This includes the persons, where both parents' birthplaces are unknown, if the person in question was born in Greenland. With this definition 50,916 persons has strong family ties to Greenland by 2010. This represents 90 percent of the total population. There is almost no difference in the proportion of people who have strong family ties (90 percent) compared to the proportion of persons born in Greenland (89 percent).
Settlements
According to Asiaqs’ register of localities there are 93 active localities in Greenland by September 2010. A locality can be a town(17), a settlement (62), farm(4), station(6)…
Until the municipal amalgamation January 1st 2009, there was only one city in each municipality, in which municipal administration was found. Following the merger of municipalities we call the old municipalities for districts. A municipality consists of several towns and settlements.
Towns and settlements
Through the 1960s the population grew rapidly in the towns. The towns absorbed both population growth and the exodus from the settlements. This trend continued over the last 30 years as the population in towns continues to rise while it declines in the settlements. Figure 5 shows total population in the towns 1979-2009. The towns in Nuuk, Qaanaaq and Tasiilaq have almost doubled their population during the period, while the population in Paamiut and Qasigiannguit has been reduced by 25 percent.
Figure 3
Population trends in towns 1979-2010
Source: Statistics Greenland
Only in Upernavik and Ilulissats settlements has the population increased. A number of settlements have been abandoned and in many places the population has halved.
Population trends in settlements 1979-2010
Source: Statistics Greenland