Denmark’s Dirty Little Secret About Population Control in Greenland
Denmark has controlled Greenland since 1721. Indigenous peoples lived there for thousands of years before that. In 1953, the world’s largest island transitioned from colony to become part of the Kingdom of Denmark. Today its domestic affairs are considered self-rule, while Denmark is responsible for Greenland’s foreign policy, defense, and currency.
But with regard to Greenland and the women who have lived there, Denmark has had a dirty little secret centered on population control: a relatively recent birth control practice that was forced on thousands of women, for which the country only apologized in September 2025.
According to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a group of independent researchers released a report that followed a two-year investigation. That investigation found that Denmark — from 1966 through 1992 — forced sterilization on more than 4,500 women and girls in Greenland, some as young as 12 years old. Many, if not most, were never told.
In the name of population control, doctors implanted an intra-uterine device (IUD) in the unsuspecting patients.
