Greenland Geography - 2023

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Location

Northern North America, island between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean, northeast of Canada

Geographic coordinates

72 00 N, 40 00 W

Map references

Arctic Region

Area

total: 2,166,086 sq km

land: 2,166,086 sq km (approximately 1,710,000 sq km ice-covered)

Area - comparative

slightly more than three times the size of Texas

Land boundaries

total: 0 km

Coastline

44,087 km

Maritime claims

territorial sea: 3 nm

continental shelf: 200 nm or agreed boundaries or median line

exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm or agreed boundaries or median line

Climate

arctic to subarctic; cool summers, cold winters

Terrain

flat to gradually sloping icecap covers all but a narrow, mountainous, barren, rocky coast

Elevation

highest point: Gunnbjorn Fjeld 3,694 m

lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m

mean elevation: 1,792 m

Natural resources

coal, iron ore, lead, zinc, molybdenum, diamonds, gold, platinum, niobium, tantalite, uranium, fish, seals, whales, hydropower, possible oil and gas

Land use

agricultural land: 0.6% (2018 est.)

arable land: 0% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 0% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 0.6% (2018 est.)

forest: 0% (2018 est.)

other: 99.4% (2018 est.)

Irrigated land

N/A

Population distribution

settlement concentrated on the southwest shoreline, with limited settlements scattered along the remaining coast; interior is uninhabited

Natural hazards

continuous permafrost over northern two-thirds of the island

Geography - note

dominates North Atlantic Ocean between North America and Europe; sparse population confined to small settlements along coast; close to one-quarter of the population lives in the capital, Nuuk; world's second largest ice sheet after that of Antarctica covering an area of 1.71 million sq km (660,000 sq mi) or about 79% of the island, and containing 2.85 million cu km (684 thousand cu mi) of ice (this is almost 7% of all of the world's fresh water); if all this ice were converted to liquid water, one estimate is that it would be sufficient to raise the height of the world's oceans by 7.2 m (24 ft)

NOTE: The information regarding Greenland on this page is re-published from the 2023 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Greenland 2023 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Greenland 2023 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.