This is a demography of the population of Greenland including population density,

ethnicity An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

Populations

the resident population of Greenland was estimated at 56,562, an increase of 141 (0.25%) compared to the corresponding figure the previous year. Values do not sum to 100% because there were 64 inhabitants not in any of the five municipalities. Nuuk is the most populous locality in Greenland with 19,261 inhabitants, representing 34% of Greenland's total population.

Vital statistics

Structure of the population

Structure of the population (01.07.2013) (estimates; population statistics are compiled from registers):

Life expectancy at birth

''total population:'' 71.25 years
''male:'' 68.6 years
''female:'' 74.04 years (2012 est.)

Ethnic groups

The population of Greenland consists of Greenlandic Inuit (including mixed-race persons), Danish Greenlanders and other

Europeans Europeans are the focus of European ethnology, the field of anthropology related to the various ethnic groups that reside in the states of Europe. Groups may be defined by common genetic ancestry, common language, or both. Pan and Pfeil (2004) ...

and

North Americans North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Ca ...

. The Inuit population makes up approximately 85–90% of the total (2009 est.). 6,792 people from Denmark live in Greenland, which is 12% of its total population. In recent years, Greenland experienced a significant increase in immigration from Asia, especially from the Philippines, Thailand, and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Languages

The only official language of Greenland is Greenlandic. The number of speakers of Greenlandic is estimated at 50,000 (85–90% of the total population), divided in three main dialects,

Kalaallisut Kalaallisut may refer to: * Greenlandic language * West Greenlandic West Greenlandic ( da, vestgrønlandsk), also known as Kalaallisut, is the primary language of Greenland and constitutes the Greenlandic language, spoken by the vast majority of ...

(West-Greenlandic, 44,000 speakers and the dialect that is used as official language), Tunumiit (East-Greenlandic, 3,000 speakers) and

Inuktun Inuktun ( en, Polar Inuit, kl, avanersuarmiutut, da, nordgrønlandsk, polarinuitisk, thulesproget) is the language of approximately 1,000 indigenous Inughuit (Polar Inuit), inhabiting the world's northernmost settlements in Qaanaaq and the surr ...

(North-Greenlandic, 800 speakers). The remainder of the population mainly speaks

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

; Inuit Sign Language is the language of the deaf community.

Religion

The nomadic Inuit were traditionally shamanistic, with a well-developed mythology primarily concerned with propitiating a vengeful and fingerless sea goddess who controlled the success of the seal and whale hunts. The first Norse colonists were

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...

, but

Erik the Red Erik Thorvaldsson (), known as Erik the Red, was a Norse explorer, described in medieval and Icelandic saga sources as having founded the first settlement in Greenland. He most likely earned the epithet "the Red" due to the color of his hair a ...

's son

Leif Leif is a male given name of Scandinavian origin. It is derived from the Old Norse name ''Leifr'' (nominative case), meaning "heir", "descendant". Use in the Nordic countries Spelling and prevalence Across the Nordic countries, the most com ...

was converted to Catholic Christianity by King

Olaf Trygvesson Olaf Tryggvason (960s – 9 September 1000) was King of Norway from 995 to 1000. He was the son of Tryggvi Olafsson, king of Viken (Vingulmark, and Rånrike), and, according to later sagas, the great-grandson of Harald Fairhair, first King of N ...

on a trip to Norway in 990 and sent missionaries back to Greenland. These swiftly established sixteen parishes, some monasteries, and a bishopric at Garðar. Rediscovering these colonists and spreading the Protestant Reformation among them was one of the primary reasons for the Danish recolonization in the 18th century. Under the patronage of the

Royal Mission College The College of Missions ( da, Missionskollegiet; la, Collegium de cursu Evangelii promovendo) or Royal Mission College (') was a Dano-Norwegian association based in Copenhagen which funded and directed Protestant missions under royal patronage. A ...

in Copenhagen, Norwegian and Danish Lutherans and German

Moravian missionaries , image = AgnusDeiWindow.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , caption = Church emblem featuring the Agnus Dei.Stained glass at the Rights Chapel of Trinity Moravian Church, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States , main_classification = Proto-Prot ...

searched for the missing Norse settlements and began converting the Inuit. The principal figures in the Christianization of Greenland were

Hans Hans may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Hans (name), a masculine given name * Hans Raj Hans, Indian singer and politician ** Navraj Hans, Indian singer, actor, entrepreneur, cricket player and performer, son of Hans Raj Hans ** Yuvraj Hans, Punjabi ...

and

Poul Egede Paul or Poul Hansen Egede (9 September 1708 – 6 June 1789) was a Dano-Norwegian theologian, missionary, and scholar who was principally concerned with the Lutheran mission among the Kalaallit people in Greenland that had been established by his ...

and Matthias Stach. The New Testament was translated piecemeal from the time of the very first settlement on Kangeq Island, but the first translation of the whole Bible was not completed until 1900. An improved translation using the modern orthography was completed in 2000. Today, the major religion is Protestant Christianity, mostly members of the Lutheran Church of Denmark. While there is no official census data on religion in Greenland, the Lutheran Bishop of Greenland Sofie Petersen estimates that 85% of the Greenlandic population are members of its congregation.

References

{{Ethnicity Society of Greenland