Arctic Yearbook 2014
95
other provinces of Canada as there is very little international migration. Ontario is a large and
increasingly important source and destination of migrants from Nunavut. In 2013, 32 percent of
inter-provincial in-migration was from Ontario and 37 percent of out-migrants went to Ontario
(Nunavut Bureau of Statistics, 2014). Because of a quite deliberate policy to decentralize jobs in
Nunavut, Iqaluit’s share of the territory’s population has declined from 21.1 percent in 2006 to 20.3
percent in 2013, thus bucking a pattern seen in most other Arctic regions.
Greenland
The population of Greenland grew slowly and remained largely Inuit until Danes started to migrate
to the island. In 1901, the population was 11,893 and only 2.3 percent were born outside Greenland
(figure 8).
Figure 8: Total population of Greenland and percent born outside Greenland, 1901-2013
60,000
25
Population
Percent born outside Greenland
50,000
20
40,000
15
30,000
10
20,000
5
0
1901
1911
1921
1930
1946
1951
1956
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
10,000
0
Source: Statistics Greenland.
The population grew largely because of the higher fertility of native Greenlanders and improved
mortality but also partially due to the influx of outsiders from Denmark. The percent of the
population born outside Greenland peaked at 19 percent in 1974 when home rule was introduced
and there were fewer positions available for Danes. This period of a large share of Danes also
marked the beginning of high female outmigration when Greenlandic women married Danish men
who tended not to stay in Greenland permanently (Hamilton & Rasmussen, 2010). The percent of
the population born outside Greenland has continued to decline as Greenlanders assert more
control over their economy and government affairs and now stands at 11 percent. The population of
Greenland reached 55,000 for the first time in 1989 and has grown quite slowly since then as natural
increase has been almost exactly offset by out-migration. The total population size has remained
remarkably stable at just over 56,000 for the past fifteen years. With increased contact with Denmark
and Danish citizenship, it has been relatively easy for Greenlanders to migrate to Denmark. In 2007,
Migration in the Arctic