otas. Greenland was granted
self-government in 1979 by the Danish parliament. The law went into
effect the following year. Denmark continues to exercise control of
Greenland's foreign affairs.

Geography Greenland

Location:
Northern North America, island between the Arctic Ocean and the
North Atlantic Ocean, northeast of Canada

Geographic coordinates:
72 00 N, 40 00 W

Map references:
Arctic Region

Area:
total: 2,166,086 sq km
land: 2,166,086 sq km (410,449 sq km ice-free, 1,755,637 sq km
ice-covered) (2000 est.)

Area - comparative:
slightly more than three times the size of Texas

Land boundaries:
0 km

Coastline:
44,087 km

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 3 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or agreed boundaries or median line
exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm or agreed boundaries or median line

Climate:
arctic to subarctic; cool summers, cold winters

Terrain:
flat to gradually sloping icecap covers all but a narrow,
mountainous, barren, rocky coast

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Gunnbjorn 3,700 m

Natural resources:
coal, iron ore, lead, zinc, molybdenum, gold, platinum, uranium,
fish, seals, whales, hydropower, possible oil and gas

Land use:
arable land: 0%
permanent crops: 0%
other: 100% (2001)

Irrigated land:
NA sq km

Natural hazards:
continuous permafrost over northern two-thirds of the island

Environment - current issues:
protection of the arctic environment; preservation of the Inuit
traditional way of life, including whaling and seal hunting

Geography - note:
dominates North Atlantic Ocean between North America and Europe;
sparse population confined to small settlements along coast, but
close to one-quarter of the population lives in the capital, Nuuk;
world's second largest ice cap

People Greenland

Population:
56,375 (July 2005 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 25% (male 7,216/female 6,888)
15-64 years: 68.7% (male 20,897/female 17,823)
65 years and over: 6.3% (male 1,672/female 1,879) (2005 est.)

Median age:
total: 33.83 years
male: 35.15 years
female: 32.14 years (2005 est.)

Population growth rate:
-0.02% (2005 est.)

Birth rate:
15.93 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Death rate:
7.77 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Net migration rate:
-8.37 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Sex ratio:
at b