Municipalities of Greenland

As secondary administrative divisions of Greenland, I have chosen to list the old kommuner (municipalities). Since the 2009 replacement of lansdele (parts) with four larger kommuner as primary subdivisions, it's not clear whether these eighteen kommuner are still functioning. However, they provide a convenient common denominator between lansdele, regions, and new kommuner. See Communes of Greenland page for more explanation.

MunicipalityHASC1970-01-011980-01-011990-01-011996-01-012007-01-01DanishRegionPart
Aasiaat GL.QS.AA3,5723,4953,599 3,306 3,189 Egedesminde Disko West
Avanersuaq GL.QS.AV628 771 846 879 846 Thule Nord/ØstNorth
Ilulissat GL.QS.IL3.0294,0624,568 4,548 4,996 Jakobshavn Disko West
IttoqqortoormiitGL.SE.IT508 496 554 506 529 Scoresbysund Nord/ØstEast
Ivittuut GL.SE.IV75 37 4 184 182 Ivigtut Syd West
Kangaatsiaq GL.QS.KA1,1901,1621,347 1,518 1,463 Kangatsiak Midt West
Maniitsoq GL.QT.MA3,6783,9264,075 3,866 3,545 Sukkertoppen Midt West
Nanortalik GL.KU.NN2,8852,8012,672 2,605 2,281 Nanortalik Syd West
Narsaq GL.KU.NR2,1842,0642,148 2,077 2,016 Narssaq Syd West
Nuuk GL.SE.NU7,9639,56112,68713,28615,047Godthåb Midt West
Paamiut GL.SE.PA2,4962,6192,556 2,320 1,906 Frederikshåb Midt West
Qaqortoq GL.KU.QQ3,2123,0563,543 3,550 3,490 Julianehåb Syd West
Qasigiannguit GL.QS.QG1,8411,8771,712 1,620 1,291 ChristianshåbDisko West
Qeqertarsuaq GL.QS.QE977 1,0121,164 1,162 1,055 Godhavn Disko West
Sisimiut GL.QT.SI3,5624,2015,090 5,365 6,140 HolsteinsborgMidt West
Tasiilaq GL.SE.TA2,4832,6182,889 2,966 3,069 Angmagssalik Nord/ØstEast
Unorganized GL.UO.UO772 1,4231,052 603 200   Nord/ØstNorth
Upernavik GL.QS.UP1,9072,0892,375 2,794 2,953 Upernavik Nord/ØstWest
Uummannaq GL.QS.UM2,3692,5032,677 2,708 2,450 Umanak Nord/ØstWest
19 divisions46,33149,77355,55855,86356,648
  • HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. The middle two letters identify the (new) commune.
  • Dates: Populations at that date.
  • Danish: Former name of municipality, usually the Danish name.
  • Region: Areas used for some statistical reports.
  • Part: Former part (lansdele) containing municipality.

 

Note: in the 1970 population figures, I have included the population of Vaigat with Ilulissat (see below).

Change history:

  1. Thomas Waldorff writes that the Greenlandic language underwent a spelling reform in 1973. Among other things, the letters â, ê, î, ô, and û were replaced by aa, ee, ii, oo, and uu, respectively, and the letter 'ĸ' (Unicode: "Latin small letter kra") was replaced by 'q'.
  2. 1971-01-01: Ilimanaq (Claushavn) transferred from Qasigiannguit municipality to Ilulissat municipality.
  3. ~1973: Vaigat municipality abolished. Judging from maps before and after the change, it merged with Qeqertarsuaq; however, the population history would make more sense if Vaigat had merged with Ilulissat, which also neighbored it. Its 1970 population was 1,037.

Other names of municipalities:

  1. Avanersuaq: Qaanaaq (variant)
  2. Ittoqqortoormiit: Illoqqortoormiut (variant)
  3. Tasiilaq: Ammassalik (variant)

Sources:

  1. [1] Populations 1970-1996: Greenland 1997 - Statistical Yearbook, retrieved from http://www.statgreen.gl/english/yearbook/tab04-1.pdf on 2002-11-29.
  2. [2] Population 2007: "Grønlands befolkning 1. januar 2007", retreived from http://www.statgreen.gl/dk/publ/befolk/07-1bef1.pdf on 2008-02-25.
  3. [3] Municipality map, retrieved from http://www.kanukoka.gl/adresser 2002-11-29.
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