the settlements. Overall, this means that the social safety-net works in a completely different way than in the towns, where the socially disadvantaged are on social security benefits, housing benefits and social assistance. “So if the residents of the settlements move to the towns, it will be more expensive for the public purse,” says Kåre Hendriksen. “As it is today, most people moving from the settlements will become unemployed, while at the same time not being able to supplement their income by hunting and fishing.” On the other hand, the flip-side of the coin is that the lower spending per inhabitant in the settlements masks the fact that settlement residents have to live with a much lower level of social service and they don’t have the large numbers of offers that can be found in the towns.
Large differences between settlements But it is difficult to lump settlements into a common formula, because they are very different. There are hunting and fishing settlements, such as those in the Upernavik and Kangaatsiaq districts, where the traditional industries provide a basic livelihood or a supplement to the daily household. In many of the settlements, there are also trading posts where hunters and fishermen can sell their catch. “My research shows that the majority of the residents of these settlements are thriving and wouldn’t dream of leaving their homes,” says Kåre Hendriksen. “There is of course an exodus, especially among the young, but the population has been increasing slightly in the Upernavik settlements and is relatively stable in Kangaatsiaq district.” One comes up against the opposite trend in, for example, the settlements in Qaqortoq and Nanortalik districts. Here, the original industrial basis has thinned out strongly and there is a lack of trading opportunities. The settlements in these districts are therefore mostly publicly funded in the form of public sector jobs and transfer payments. Even though there is a major exodus from these
The settlements are shrinking There are currently 58 registered settlements in Greenland. The number of settlements have roughly halved since the post-war period, while the population from the early 1900s until the mid-1990s was relatively stable at around 10,000. During the whole period from the 1960s, there has been an exodus from the settlements, but a very high birth rate has contributed towards stabilising the population. During the last 10 years, the population of the settlements has been declining and it is now down around 7,000-8,000. The large decline coincides with a fall in the birth rate and with the last 10-15 years having become more expensive to live in the settlements with such as the abolition of the uniform price system on food, electricity and water.