General statistics
Greenland's population is a mixture of Inuit (88%) and Europeans (12%). There are 56,699 inhabitants (January 2024), including around 6,300 born outside Greenland (mainly Danes). This population inhabits ice-free regions and coastal islands. The capital, Nuuk, has a population of 19,872. Population density is extremely low (0.14 inhabitants per km²). While the population was stable between 1998 and 2014 (between 56,000 and 57,000 people), it declined between 2014 and 2021 due to strong migration to Denmark, which welcomed over 16,000 people (over 17,000 in 2023) born on Greenlandic territory, i.e. 20% more than 10 years ago. Quality of life and material conditions are better than in Greenland. Annual growth is 0.02%, with around 800 births and a death rate of 9.4 per 1,000 inhabitants, giving a result of around 300 people per year. Life expectancy is lower than in Europe: 69.6 years for men and 73.5 years for women. The average age is 34, making Greenlanders a decidedly young population. On a more sombre note, Greenland has one of the highest suicide rates in the world.
Kalaallisut and Tunumiisut, Eskimo-Aleut languages
Greenlandic belongs to the Eskimo-Aleut language family and is spoken by around 50,000 people. It is closely related to the Inuit idioms spoken in Canada and Alaska, including Inuktitut, the "Eskimo" language common to all Arctic peoples. Greenlandic has three main dialects: Kalaallisut or "West Greenlandic", the main Greenlandic dialect and official language of Greenland since 2009;Inuktun orAvanersuarmiutut, the northernmost dialect spoken around the town of Qaanaaq (Thule); and Tunumiisut or "East Greenlandic", spoken around the towns of Tasiilaq and Ittoqoortoormiut. The western and eastern dialects differ from the northern in vocabulary and pronunciation. Like other languages in its family, it is polysyllabic, polysynthetic (a word can have several meanings) and agglutinative. There are almost no compound sentences, with most vocabulary resulting from variations in nouns and verbs. In other words, words are made up of parts of various vocables that cluster around a radical. A word is built up from a nominal and/or verbal root, whose meaning can be altered at will by adding infixes and suffixes. In this way, notions as diverse as greatness, feelings, judgment and time can be added to a single word that can occupy an entire line on a large page. In other words, a single Greenlandic word often expresses a whole sentence, or several sentences in another language! The word is not fixed, it's alive and malleable at will to convey the maximum amount of information while remaining focused. As a result, you'll be a little less surprised by the astonishing length of some words. Pronunciation is relatively easy for French speakers, as the consonants and vowels are identical to our own. To the ear, Greenlandic is magnificent. It resonates with harmonious whispers and clicks.
Being Greenlandic today
From a linguistic point of view, this is not easy, as you will soon notice that not everyone speaks the official language, namely West Greenlandic(Kalaallisut). For example, you'll easily come across a Greenlander who speaks only his or her dialect (East, West or North Greenlandic), or a native of Nuuk who speaks only Danish. There are various reasons for this phenomenon: the isolation of certain populations who don't feel the need to learn another language, or the fashion in the 1970s and 1980s to send their children to the more reputable private Danish education system.
At school, the languages learned are West Greenlandic (the official language) as first language, Danish as second language and English. This trilingual system can be very onerous for East and North Greenlanders, who must also learn their own idioms: Tunumiit oraasiat for East Greenlanders andInuktun for North Greenlanders. These immense linguistic efforts are a source of discouragement and often contribute to academic failure, in addition to a lack of education on the part of parents, who are unable to help their children after school. This situation is doubly exacerbated by the lack of education of the new, younger generation of Greenlandic language teachers, who are unfortunately still insufficiently trained (unlike the old Danish teachers).
In practice, Danish is still widely used in administration and higher education. It also remains the first or only language for some Danish immigrants in Nuuk and other major cities. Failing that, other foreigners converse in English on the spot, and more and more Greenlanders are beginning to learn Shakespeare's language. As a result, many Greenlanders are at least bilingual in Greenlandic/Danish, if not trilingual in English. So don't worry, you'll always find someone to understand you!
Kaffemik
Imported from Denmark, kaffemik "with coffee" is a Greenlandic tradition that continues every time a special occasion arises (birth, birthday, christening, communion, graduation, first day of school, first game caught...). While others in the rest of the world generally go out for such an occasion, Greenlanders prefer to celebrate at home. Family, friends, neighbors and colleagues are all invited to come and celebrate, and the host welcomes them with a selection of self-prepared dishes, often a few days in advance. As a rule, guests who come and go throughout the day don't stay too long to make room for the next guests. First, they sample a selection of local dishes (musk ox, reindeer, lamb, dried whale meat, seal meat), followed by a slice or two of homemade cakes or raisin rolls, with a cup or two of coffee or tea. In short, a kitchen full of Greenlandic specialties! Enjoy this unique experience by joining a family for a kaffemik, often by word-of-mouth or via a tour operator. Anyone can be invited to a kaffemik, even those who don't know the family. Don't forget that it's customary to bring a small gift for the person you're celebrating!
