Population and Politics of North America: Greenland

Always good to look at things in context.  A lot has been written about European demographics and the slow birth rates in Germany and other countries in Western Europe.  Inspired by Hans Rosling's  talks (and just because I'm insatiably curious)  I thought it would be interesting to look at what's happening in North America:  Greenland, Canada, the United States and Mexico.  Let's take them in order from north to south and look at birthrates, net migration and other statistics to see what's going on today using data from Index Mundi and other sources.  First up is Greenland.

Greenland

Interesting place.  I've always been curious about this country since it does not exactly figure prominently in the international news.  It is in North America but is still tied to Europe through Denmark. In 2011 it had a population of 57, 670 souls:  about 90% Inuit and 10% European (mostly Danish).  The literacy rate couldn't be better:  100%.  The birthrate is 14.6 births/1,000 population with a respectable fertility rate of between  2.1 and 2.4 children per woman.  It is a country of emigration with a negative net migration of -5.98 migrant(s)/1,000 in 2011.  This article lists some destination countries for Greenlanders:  Norway, Guatemala, Iceland, Australia, the Netherlands, Panama, Greece, Mexico, New Zealand.  Is this a problem?  You bet it is.  How do you build a viable country with numbers like these?   Greenland was granted home rule but it is still heavily dependent on Denmark.  Immigration to Greenland is still controlled by the Danish Immigration Service which decides such matters according to something called the Greenlandic Foreigners Act.

I was very curious about why exactly Denmark continues to subsidize Greenland and why full independence is moving so slowly.  The answer seems to be location, location, location (it's close to the North Pole)  and natural resources (yes, it's all about oil and gas).  If that weren't enough, this article made another point about which I was totally ignorant:

Greenland has served as an essential host for numerous US military bases and installations, and by controlling Greenland, Denmark grew in significance to the American administration. To this day, the US still has a very potent military radar situated in the North of Greenland. There has been, and still are, considerable geopolitical and military interests linked to us.

I checked and, yes, there is still an American presence there today.  It's called Thule Air Base and it's one of the most isolated U.S. military installations on the planet.  

Greenland may not have a high population but there are good reasons for several countries (not to mention the Greenlanders themselves) to want it to be viable.  It's also worth pointing out that (if the theories are correct) Greenland may actually benefit from global warming.  Reindeer, ice caps and traditional ways of life will surely suffer but milder weather and a longer growing season may make Greenland more attractive to immigrants, might encourage population growth (and discourage emigration) and thus make it more economically viable.  Not an argument in favor of climate change, mind you, I'm just saying....

Tomorrow:  Canada