Experts urge Greenland to tighten alcohol rules after killing

Greenland’s independent Health Council is calling for tougher alcohol rules, including raising the purchase age from 18 to 21 and ending weekend sales in shops. The council’s chair, Kjeld Møller Pedersen, says the measures are needed to protect children and young people, DR reported.

The council’s annual report, published today, says alcohol consumption is too high and its effects on families and children cause lasting problems. Recommendations submitted to Greenland’s parliament in 2024 also included a public monopoly on alcohol sales and restrictions on availability.

Pedersen described the proposals as restrictive but probably necessary, and said putting them into effect would be “significant progress.” He has yet to see them become reality, noting that they still need to pass through parliament.

The call comes after the municipality of Kujalleq, in southern Greenland, stopped all alcohol sales last week following the killing of a 37-year-old man in Nanortalik. Police have arrested and charged four people with murder. Mayor Malene Wahl Rasmussen said residents had had enough and wanted drastic action.

Greenland Police say alcohol is involved in more than half of all sexual offences. In a 2018 population survey, 37 per cent of people born in 1995 or later said they grew up in homes with alcohol problems. The same survey found that 43 per cent of men and 38 per cent of women had a possible alcohol problem, defined as heavy, harmful or dependent drinking.

The council’s recommendations cited alcohol as a frequent trigger for youth suicide, neglect, domestic violence and sexual abuse. Most Greenlandic parties had agreed on the need for change, but during the election campaign the previous spring, Siumut, IA, Atassut and Naleraq did not support the proposals. Siumut’s then-leader Erik Jensen said he opposed restrictions, changes to the age limit and a monopoly.

UNICEF in Greenland has also called on the government to act. Health Minister Anna Wangenheim said last autumn that alcohol was deeply embedded in society and closely connected to trauma, making alcohol policy an important tool for addressing the problem.

In 2025, average annual consumption was 8.3 litres of pure alcohol per person aged over 14 in Greenland, compared with 8.8 litres per person aged over 18 in Denmark. The 2018 population survey found that 34 per cent of people over 15 in Greenland drank five or more drinks on one occasion at least once a month; the comparable figure in Denmark was 25 per cent of people over 16.