Greenlandic Inuit

Greenlandic Inuit
kalaallit
Total population
c. 70,000
Regions with significant populations
Greenland51,349
Denmark16,470
United States352
Norway293
Faroe Islands163
Iceland65
Canada55
Netherlands14
Languages
  • Primary
  • Greenlandic
  • Secondary
Religion
Related ethnic groups
other Inuit people

The Greenlandic Inuit or sometimes simply the Greenlandic are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to Greenland, where they constitute the largest ethnic population. They share a common ancestry, culture, and history; and natively speak the Greenlandic language. As Greenland is a territory within the Danish Realm, citizens of Greenland are both citizens of Denmark and of the European Union.

Approximately 89 percent of Greenland's population of 57,695 is Greenlandic Inuit, or 51,349 people as of 2012. Ethnographically, they consist of three major groups:

Historically, Kalaallit referred specifically to the people of Western Greenland. Northern Greenlanders call themselves Avanersuarmiut or Inughuit, and Eastern Greenlanders call themselves Tunumiit, respectively.

Most Greenlanders are bilingual speakers of Kalaallisut and Danish and most trace their lineage to the first Inuit that came to Greenland. The vast majority of ethnic Greenlanders reside in Greenland or elsewhere in the Danish Realm, primarily Denmark proper (approximately 20,000 Greenlanders reside in Denmark proper). A small minority reside in other countries, mostly elsewhere in Scandinavia and North America. There are though a number of Greenlanders and Greenlandic families who today are multiracial, mostly due to marriages between Greenlanders and Danes as well as other Europeans.