The demographic development in Greenland - moving from settlements to towns
Over the past ten years (from 2010-2019) there have been a decrease of 1,747 inhabitants in Greenlandic settlements, an emigration that has accelerated from the previous decade.
According to Greenland’s statistics, the demographic development from 2010-2019 shows that an average of 1,282 people moved from settlement to town each year, while 1,107 people moved from town to settlement. This means that the Greenlandic settlements lost an average of 175 inhabitants each year during that period.
According to the statistics, women make up approximately 50.5% of the relocations in the settlements and are thus slightly overrepresented. In the long run, this will have an impact on the gender population composition in settlements vs. towns as slightly more people will stay in the towns. It is assumed that educational opportunities play a role in relation to the fact that women in particular are attracted to town life rather than life in the settlements. The study “The Greenlandic labour Force Survey” published by Centre for Labour Market Research in 2020, describes that more Greenlandic women than men complete an education.
Below is the total move from settlement to town from 2000-2019
