Greenland, an Inuit-majority island in the Danish Realm, has had home rule since 1979 and self-government since 2009. The 2009 Act recognises Greenlanders as a people with the right of self-determination, transfers fields of responsibility, and sets out a route to independence.
Greenland was a Danish colony until 1953, when a new Danish constitution made it a county of Denmark. Assimilationist modernisation in the 1950s and 1960s (relocations, Danish-language schooling, an economy run from Copenhagen) fuelled a Greenlandic political movement. The Home Rule Act of 1978 was approved by Greenlanders in a referendum in January 1979 and took effect that year, creating an elected parliament (Inatsisartut) and government (Naalakkersuisut). In a 1982 referendum Greenlanders voted to leave the European Community, and Greenland withdrew in 1985, mainly to regain control of its fisheries.
A Greenlandic-Danish commission prepared a further step. In a referendum on 25 November 2008, 75.5 per cent of voters supported self-government. The Act on Greenland Self-Government (Act no. 473 of 12 June 2009) entered into force on 21 June 2009, Greenland's National Day.
people pursuant to international law with the right of self-determination". Greenlandic is the official language.
proportional representation, forms Naalakkersuisut, the government, led by the premier. Greenland also elects two members of the Danish Folketing.
fields at times it chooses, including mineral resources (taken over on 1 January 2010), the police, courts, prisons, family law, company law and financial regulation. The Constitution, nationality, the Supreme Court, foreign, defence and security policy, and monetary policy stay with the Realm.
agreements on behalf of the Realm in fields it has taken over, and takes part in negotiations that concern Greenland.
independence is for the people of Greenland. If they decide in favour, negotiations follow; the resulting agreement needs the consent of Inatsisartut, endorsement in a referendum in Greenland and the consent of the Folketing.
Greenland has about 56,000 inhabitants spread along a coast with no roads between towns, which makes services costly. Fisheries, especially shrimp and halibut, provide most export earnings, and the public sector is large. Denmark pays an annual block grant fixed in the Act at DKK 3,439.6 million (2009 price and wage level), indexed, which covers a large share of public spending. The Act links greater self-sufficiency to minerals: revenue from mineral resource activities above DKK 75 million a year reduces the block grant by half of the excess, and if the grant falls to zero the two governments must negotiate their future economic relations.
Mining has been slower and more contested than expected. On 9 November 2021 Inatsisartut voted 12 to 9 to ban uranium mining and exploration, a promise of the Inuit Ataqatigiit-led government elected that April, which blocked the Kuannersuit rare earths and uranium project in southern Greenland. Smaller mines and exploration licences continue, and the island's minerals and strategic location have attracted growing interest from the United States, China and the European Union.
The relationship with Denmark is negotiated rather than violent, but it is charged. Reports and testimony since the 2010s on colonial-era policies, including the coil contraception campaign of the 1960s and 1970s, have strained relations and prompted official inquiries. Within Greenland, parties disagree over the speed of independence, the use of mining and tourism to fund it, and dependence on Danish expertise in the administration. In 2019 and again from 2025, statements by the United States president about acquiring Greenland drew rejections from both Nuuk and Copenhagen and pushed questions of sovereignty and security to the top of the agenda. After the March 2025 election, Demokraatit leader Jens-Frederik Nielsen formed a four-party coalition with Inuit Ataqatigiit, Siumut and Atassut, leaving Naleraq alone in opposition, and stressed unity in the face of that pressure.
Self-government has moved substantial powers to Nuuk and given Greenlanders a recognised legal route to independence that does not require Danish agreement to the principle, only to the terms. Kuokkanen's study of the first four years calls the Act, with its focus on modern nation-building within Western institutions, a unique means of implementing Indigenous self-government, but notes that public debate centred on economic development and resource extraction, leaving the meaning of self-government obscure for many individuals. Fiscal dependence on the block grant remains the main constraint on independence.
procedure rather than a crisis.
has capacity, though it can leave important fields untransferred for years.
that can clash with environmental and local priorities.
institutions works where the Indigenous people are the large majority, but may under-serve Indigenous-specific claims.
Home rule from 1979 and self-government from 2009 transferred mineral resources and other fields to Nuuk and recognised Greenlanders' right of self-determination, with a statutory route to independence. A block grant of about DKK 3.4 billion (2009 level) still funds much public spending.
The 2009 Self-Government Act recognises Greenlanders as a people with the right of self-determination and states that a decision on independence is to be taken by the people of Greenland, with the final agreement requiring a referendum and the consent of both parliaments.[1][2]
The Act fixes Denmark's annual block grant at DKK 3,439.6 million (2009 price and wage level) and reduces it by half of any mineral resource revenue above DKK 75 million a year.[1]
Kuokkanen argues that the Self-Government Act, focused on modern nation-building within Western institutions, is a unique means of implementing Indigenous self-government, but that its first years centred on economic development, leaving the meaning of self-government obscure for many people.[1]
On 9 November 2021 Inatsisartut voted 12 to 9 to ban uranium mining and exploration, a measure that affected the Kuannersuit rare earths and uranium project.[1][2]