Although Greenland is the largest island in the world, it is sparsely populated, with only about 57,000 inhabitants. Greenland was administered by the Danish government until home-rule was granted in 1979. Between 1776 and 1950 the Danish government closed Greenland to outsiders. The earliest known LDS presence in Greenland began in 1944, when Latter-day Saints serving in the United States military came to the island. A branch was organized in 1953 but was discontinued in 1989. Thule Air Force Base remains the center for Church activity, where a small servicemen’s group meets. At the beginning of the year 2000 Church membership numbered 14 living in one branch.
[Year-end 2005: Est. population, 53,375; Members, 12; Branches, 1; Percent LDS, .02, or one member in 4,698; North America Northeast Area; Denmark Copenhagen Mission; Source 2007 Church Almanac.]
SOURCE
1999-2000 Church Almanac. Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1998. 311.
JEFFREY L. ANDERSON
From Arnold K. Garr, Donald Q. Cannon, and Richard O. Cowan, eds., Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2000), 446. Used with the permission of the Deseret Book Company. Copies prohibited by law.