CNA/AFP/VNExpress-Aug 10
Filipinos and Thais have become the two largest foreign communities in Greenland, filling a labor gap the Arctic territory cannot close from its own population of about 57,000.
Roughly 1,300 Filipinos and 460 Thais now live on the island, CNA reported. The Filipino community has grown nearly fivefold from five years ago, while the Thai population has roughly doubled. AFP put the Filipino figure slightly lower, at about 1,200, in a May report from Ilulissat, and identified Filipinos as the largest foreign diaspora in the Danish autonomous territory. In Nuuk, the capital, there were 770 Filipinos in 2026, compared with 118 a decade ago.They work in supermarkets, hotels, restaurants, fisheries, cleaning companies, breweries, health facilities and small businesses.
CNA reported that 12% to 13% of the workforce now comes from outside Greenlandic backgrounds, a category that includes Danes and other Europeans. AFP, citing Greenland’s employers’ organizations, put the share of Asian workers at 5% to 6%.
Greenland is the world’s largest island at about 2.16 million square kilometers, roughly the size of Western Europe, but its ice sheet covers close to 80% of the surface and its population is smaller than that of a mid-sized town. The island is expanding tourism, services, mining and energy. A survey by the Greenland Business Association found a shortfall of around 600 workers across all sectors, and the association says the real gap is larger. “If we all had two or three jobs, we still wouldn’t have enough people in Greenland. So we are going to be dependent on people coming in,” Christian Keldsen, the association’s director, told CNA. A worker from Asia in Greenland earned an average of $52,800 across all sectors in 2024, according to figures cited by CNA. That is about 9.5 times the average annual wage in Thailand and more than 12 times the average in the Philippines. A work permit also carries publicly financed healthcare, medicine, education and retirement benefits, said Steven Arnfjord, a professor at the University of Greenland who directs its Center for Arctic Welfare. Few migrants arrive through recruitment agencies. One relative secures a permit, establishes themselves, then brings a spouse or children through family reunification. Read more at:
