Fertility

895 live born children were born in Greenland in 2009. Of these 816 were born by mothers born in Greenland themselves, and 79 were born by mothers from abroad.

The annual number of live born can be decomposed into the size of the female population, their age-distribution and their age-specific fertility rates. Fertility often compares by a number of indicators, some shown in overview 1.

 

Overview 1

Fertility indicators 2009

	Total			Mothers born in Greenland			Mothers born outside Greenland
	1989	1999	2009	1989	1999	2009	1989	1999	2009
Number of liveborn	1.210	945	895	1.107	880	816	103	65	79
General fertilityrate	80,6	65,2	60,9	84,7	66,7	60,3	52,8	49,6	68,6
Total fertilityrate	2,300	2,416	2,359	2,369	2,500	2,339	1,671	1,532	1,923

http://bank.stat.gl/beebblsf2

Source: Statistics Greenland

 

The fertility-indicators gives an overview of fertility and the age-specific fertility rates a more detailed picture. In figure 1 development in the age-specific rates are shown for women, born in Greenland.

The fertility level dropped very sharply in the late 1960s and early 1970s. From 1975 till today, the total fertility rate (the number of children a woman would get if she gives birth in accordance with the annual fertility rates) fluctuated between approximately 2.0 and 2.6 children.

 

Figure 1      

Total Fertility Rate 1948-2009, women born in Greenland 

 

http://bank.stat.gl/beebbsf1

Source: Statistics Greenland

 

Mortality

In overview 2 mortality indicators for 2005 – 2007 is shown. 451 persons died in 2007. Infant mortality increased from 7.9 in 2005 to 8.2 deaths per. 1,000 live births. Life expectancy at 0-year equals how old a newborn child can expect to be with the death rates that exist in the different age groups in a given period. Life expectancy for persons born in Greenland have risen by 14.3 years for males and 15.4 years for women in the period from 1954-1958 to 2003 - 2007.

 

Overview 2

Mortality indicators

	Total				Men				Women
	2005	2006	2007		2005	2006	2007		2005	2006	2007
Deaths	466	440	451		260	256	261		206	184	190
Non-natural deaths	92	94	81		65	62	58		27	32	23
Deathrate	8,2	7,7	8,0		8,6	8,5	8,7		7,7	6,9	7,1
Middellevetid	.	.	.		65,5	65,8	66,3		70,9	71,2	71,3
Infant mortality	7,9	15,4	8,2		8,8	16,9	8,9		6,9	14,0	7,4

 

Overview 3

Life expectancy. Persons born in Greenland

	1954-58	1961-65	1971-75	1976-80	1981-85	1986-90	1991-95	1996-00	1999-03	2000-04	2002-06	2003-07
Men	50,5	56,7	59,0	57,2	58,5	58,7	60,7	61,7	63,0	63,7	64,7	64,8
Women	55,2	63,2	65,4	66,6	66,0	67,9	67,8	67,9	69,1	70,0	70,6	70,6

 

Both men and women born in Greenland have shorter life span than those from countries in the Western world. There are two main reasons: Greenland still has a relatively high infant mortality and second high mortality due to accidents and suicides. Deaths due to accident or suicide typically occurs among young men aged 15-35 years. Like deaths among infants these contributes to a significant number of life years lost, far more than the rising number of deaths from cancer and heart disease, which typically occurs later in life.

 

In overview 4 the difference between men and women’s age-specific mortality rates are shown.

 

Overview 4

Death per 1000. Persons born in Greenland

	Men						Women
Age	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2005-2009	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2005-2009
-4	1,89	4,75	2,92	1,98	1,98	2,71	2,45	3,45	2,03	2,61	2,10	2,54
5-9	1,34	1,38	..	..	1,00	0,76	1,84	..	..	..	..	0,39
10-14	0,40	0,82	0,83	0,43	1,35	0,76	1,22	0,84	0,86	0,45	1,38	0,95
15-19	2,28	3,55	2,63	2,64	3,10	2,84	..	2,70	2,19	2,67	1,81	1,89
20-24	7,87	4,15	4,65	3,55	2,92	4,59	2,2	1,61	2,14	0,52	0,99	1,47
25-29	4,03	3,84	2,47	4,15	5,71	4,07	1,43	0,69	0,66	0,63	0,61	0,79
30-34	3,48	2,16	2,19	2,97	3,70	2,90	3,80	1,58	1,60	1,60	2,33	2,20
35-39	5,82	4,65	5,28	3,00	2,02	4,37	2,62	1,46	1,11	..	1,47	1,43
40-44	5,88	4,23	3,8	3,06	2,80	3,96	2,47	4,47	3,23	2,03	0,85	2,63
45-49	8,57	3,20	6,22	3,92	3,83	5,10	5,12	4,76	4,97	2,83	7,19	5,00
50-54	9,86	7,62	4,81	6,75	10,07	7,84	9,22	5,91	7,73	6,06	5,75	6,87
55-59	15,55	12,23	25,93	12,84	19,67	17,33	19,99	11,66	4,10	13,33	18,40	13,57
60-64	31,16	17,49	28,06	27,85	18,09	24,49	12,64	19,44	29,05	12,14	21,46	18,95
65-69	43,70	56,87	42,52	46,89	34,82	44,72	39,57	40,29	30,70	31,70	29,99	34,18
70-74	79,33	73,46	70,14	77,95	69,20	73,99	55,10	46,99	46,18	70,99	43,61	52,61
75-79	68,23	133,61	135,59	128,63	111,33	115,59	81,28	81,23	85,52	53,62	78,17	75,77
80-84	187,05	167,74	191,62	215,91	168,42	186,22	162,39	91,60	157,53	118,75	125,34	130,17
85-89	518,52	214,29	444,44	285,71	432,43	380,95	247,42	208,33	106,38	276,60	123,71	192,47

http://bank.stat.gl/beebbdm1

Source: Statistics Greenland

 

Internal migration

In Greenland internal migration has a significant impact on the regional population size, sex and age distribution. The impact is much greater than the effect of births and deaths and it affects the composition of the population both the locality of migration and the one of removal.

 

21,066 domestic movements were recorded in 2009. Most movements were within the same locality, while 3,742 movings were from one municipality to another.

 

Overview 5

Internal migration

	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Total	14.197	18.341	17.416	18.232	18.740	20.417	20.784	21.767	20.639	21.066
Within town	8.037	10.504	10.280	10.784	11.217	12.250	12.490	13.130	12.077	12.646
Within settlement	751	1552	951	1.197	982	1.304	1284	1.308	1315	1.134
Between towns	3.396	3.788	3.756	3.883	4.153	4.361	4.428	4.561	4.438	4.549
Between settlements	313	389	298	316	295	282	306	315	401	339
From settlement to town	931	1.146	1.198	1.123	1.121	1.140	1.261	1.392	1.332	1.284
From town to settlement	769	962	933	929	972	1.080	1.015	1.061	1.076	1.114

http://bank.stat.gl/beebaf2b

Source: Statistics Greenland

 

Migration

Since the 1970s, net migration has varied greatly from year to year. With few exceptions, emigration generally exceeds immigration. In the early 1990s a significant decline in immigration led to a large net outflow, so great, that the birth rate could not prevent a decline in the total population. Since 2005 net emigration is markedly higher than in previous years, especially among ‘persons born in Greenland’.

 

Overview 6

Migrations by birthplace. 2000-2009

	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Net immigration	Total
Immigration	-205	-247	-288	-345	-236	-448	-644	-566	-639	-189
Emigration	2323	2461	2126	2388	2482	2514	2404	2417	2536	2551
	2528	2708	2414	2733	2718	2962	3048	2983	3175	2740
Net immigration	Born in Greenland
Immigration	-158	-234	-357	-315	-191	-382	-468	-507	-653	-278
Emigration	837	804	624	826	923	870	890	886	907	1076
	995	1038	981	1141	1114	1252	1358	1393	1560	1354
Net immigration	Born outside Greenland
Immigration	-47	-13	69	-30	-45	-66	-176	-59	14	89
Emigration	1486	1657	1502	1562	1559	1644	1514	1531	1629	1475
Net immigration	1533	1670	1433	1592	1604	1710	1690	1590	1615	1386

http://bank.stat.gl/beebbiu2

Source: Statistics Greenland

 

More than nine of 10 migrations is between Denmark and Greenland. The remaining migrations are primarily to or from the other Scandinavian countries.