Quality of life comparison

compared to

If you lived in Greenland instead of Sweden, you would:

Health

live 8.7 years less

In Sweden, the average life expectancy is 83 years (81 years for men, 85 years for women) as of 2022. In Greenland, that number is 74 years (71 years for men, 77 years for women) as of 2022.

Economy

be 19.9% more likely to be unemployed

In Sweden, 7.6% of adults are unemployed as of 2023. In Greenland, that number is 9.1% as of 2015.

Life

have 26.2% more children

In Sweden, there are approximately 10.7 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024. In Greenland, there are 13.5 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024.

be 3.8 times more likely to die during infancy

In Sweden, approximately 2.3 children (per 1,000 live births) die before they reach the age of one as of 2022. In Greenland, on the other hand, 8.8 children do as of 2022.

Basic Needs

be 21.0% less likely to have internet access

In Sweden, approximately 88.0% of the population has internet access as of 2021. In Greenland, about 69.5% do as of 2021.

Expenditures

spend 41.7% more on education

Sweden spends 7.2% of its total GDP on education as of 2020. Greenland spends 10.2% of total GDP on education as of 2019.

Geography

see 13.7 times more coastline

Sweden has a total of 3,218 km of coastline. In Greenland, that number is 44,087 km.

The statistics above were calculated using the following data sources: The World Factbook.

Greenland: At a glance

Greenland is a sovereign country in North America, with a total land area of approximately 2,166,086 sq km. Greenland, the world's largest island, is about 81% ice-capped. Vikings reached the island in the 10th century from Iceland; Danish colonization began in the 18th century, and Greenland was made an integral part of Denmark in 1953. It joined the European Community (now the EU) with Denmark in 1973 but withdrew in 1985 over a dispute centered on stringent fishing quotas. Greenland was granted self-government in 1979 by the Danish parliament; the law went into effect the following year. Greenland voted in favor of increased self-rule in November 2008 and acquired greater responsibility for internal affairs when the Act on Greenland Self-Government was signed into law in June 2009. Denmark, however, continues to exercise control over several policy areas on behalf of Greenland including foreign affairs, security, and financial policy in consultation with Greenland's Self-Rule Government.
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How big is Greenland compared to Sweden? See an in-depth size comparison.

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