Population trends from 1805 to 2021

Since 1805, occasional censuses have been carried out in West Greenland, although the first years should probably only be used tentatively. West Greenland was divided into South and North Greenland and included the area from Cape Farewell to Kraulshavn (Nuussuaq) in the Upernavik district.

In the almost 100 years from 1840 to 1938, the Greenlandic-born population more than doubled from 7,877 to 16,969. During the same period, the European part of the population increased from 251 to 383 persons, a growth which was mainly due to the increasing number of workers at the cryolite quarry in Ivittuut, while the number of Europeans in the colonies was modest.

The population at Ammassalik first came into contact with Europeans in 1884, and in 1901 there were 431 Greenlanders and ten Europeans registered in the district. The settlement at Scoresby Sound was established in 1921, mainly by families from Ammassalik. In 1938, a total of 1,071 Greenlanders and eight Europeans were registered in the two districts, mainly due to population growth in the Ammassalik district.

North-western Greenland north of Qimusseriarsuaq (Melville Bay) only formally became part of Denmark when the state took over the Thule trading station in 1938. In 1938, 271 Greenlanders and six Europeans were registered in the district.

Post-war modernisation was accompanied by an almost explosive population growth. In one decade, the population grew by 35 %, with migration from Denmark being greater than the increase in the Greenlandic population, and from 1947 to 1967 the total population grew from just over 20,000 to almost 44,000. A population growth that, due to the Danish centralisation policy, took place almost exclusively in the towns.

The figure shows the demographic trends from 1805 to 2021, the period up to 1901 being for West Greenland only.

Further reading