Healthcare in Greenland

Healthcare in Greenland is slightly below average in a worldwide comparison.

Probably the most important indicator that can be used to summarize the efficiency of all measures is general life expectancy. In other words, the theoretical age that a newborn child could potentially reach today. At the moment this age in Greenland is 68.8 years for men and 73.0 years for women. For comparison: worldwide life expectancy is about 1.7 years lower (men: 70.4 / women: 74.9 years).

Back to overview: Greenland

Distribution of the corona virus

Spread of the corona virus in Greenland

By January 18th, 2021, 30 infected persons have been reported in the country, but not yet any deaths.The first confirmed infections were reported in March 2020, which is the date of the official notification. An additional 10-14 days are calculated for noticing one's own infection, the doctor's appointment, the laboratory test and, above all, the period from the infection until the first symptoms appear.

The total of 30 infected people represent 0.053% of the country's total population.

Covid 19 virus infected in Greenland

The graph shows the number of infected persons reported per calendar week.

Fatalities have not yet been reported. Due to the current corona pandemic, we update the worldwide case numbers weekly. A list of all infected and dead people by country can be found on our Corona virus topic page.

Current development

Calendar week	Infected	Deaths
02/2021	3	0
01/2021	0	0
53/2020	1	0
52/2020	7	0
51/2020	0	0
50/2020	1	0
49/2020	0	0
48/2020	0	0
47/2020	1	0
46/2020	0	0

Weight and size

	Male	Female
Body height	173 cm	161 cm
BMI	26.1	26.7
Weight	78.5 kg	69.5 kg

Diseases

	Greenland	Ø worldwide
Diabetes *	2.10%	8.81%
Tuberculosis	0.13%	0.13%

* The number of people suffering from diabetes refers only to inhabitants aged between 20 and 79 years.

Medical supplies

The medical care provided by doctors and hospitals in Greenland is above average and also exceeds the average achieved in the EU countries. The country provides 14.4 hospital beds per 1000 inhabitants. The global mean here is 2.7 beds. Within the EU, 5.6 beds are available for every 1,000 residents.

With about 64 physicians in Greenland, there are about 1.14 doctors per 1000 inhabitants. Here again the comparison: worldwide this standard is 1.50 physicians per 1000 inhabitants and in the EU even 3.57.

Through medical care, the mortality of major known diseases can be reduced to an above-average extent. For example, only about 0 percent of all people who suffer from cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases or chylomicron retention disease (CRD) currently die.

Supply with drinking water

About 97 percent of the population has access to an immediately available, running drinking water supply. At least via springs and wells at a distance of no more than 30 minutes or supplied water, 100% of the population is supplied with largely clean drinking water. The population is thus better served than average. In a global comparison, only about 71% of the population has direct access to tested and always available drinking water. Within the European Union, this share is 97%. Only in a few countries does the proportion fall below 10%.

Sources

Above data correspond to the information of the World Health Organization, Global Health Workforce Statistics, UNICEF, State of the World's Children, Childinfo, Global Health Observatory Data Repository and OECD. The daily case numbers for the spread of the corona virus come from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).