Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on January 28, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 27, 2026
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A poll reveals 85% of Greenlanders oppose becoming part of the U.S. amid strategic interests and Denmark's military investments in the Arctic.
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - An opinion poll indicated on Tuesday that 85% of Greenlanders do not wish their Arctic island - a semi-autonomous Danish territory - to become a part of the United States, Danish daily Berlingske reported.
U.S. President Donald Trump said earlier this month that Greenland was vital to U.S. security and Denmark should give up control of the strategically important island.
The survey by pollster Verian, commissioned by the Danish paper, showed only 6% of Greenlanders are in favour of becoming part of the U.S., with 9% undecided, Berlingske said.
Denmark said on Monday it would spend 14.6 billion crowns ($2.04 billion) on boosting its military presence in the Arctic.
Greenland - with a land mass larger than Mexico and a population of 57,000 - was granted broad self-governing autonomy in 2009, including the right to declare independence from Denmark through a referendum.
Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede, who has stepped up a push for independence, has repeatedly said the island is not for sale and that it is up to its people to decide their future.
The U.S. military has a permanent presence at the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a strategic location for its ballistic missile early-warning system, as the shortest route from Europe to North America runs via the island.
($1 = 7.1545 Danish crowns)
(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom; Editing by Sandra Maler)
According to the opinion poll, 85% of Greenlanders do not wish to become part of the United States.
President Trump stated that Greenland was vital to U.S. security and suggested that Denmark should relinquish control of the island.
The U.S. military has a permanent presence at the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, which is strategically important for its ballistic missile early-warning system.
Greenland was granted broad self-governing autonomy in 2009, including the right to declare independence from Denmark through a referendum.
Greenland has a population of approximately 57,000 people.
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