Demographic variation and change in the Inuit Arctic

• Published in: Environmental research letters Vol. 13; no. 11; pp. 115007 - 115017
• Main Authors: Hamilton, Lawrence C, Wirsing, Jochen, Saito, Kei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bristol IOP Publishing 13-11-2018
• Subjects: Arctic; Arctic environments; Arctic zone; Demographics; Environmental changes; Growth rate; Ice environments; Indicators; Inuit; migration; Polar environments; population; Population decline; Population growth; sex ratio; social indicators; Social interactions; Socioeconomic factors; Canada; Alaska; Nunavut Territory Canada; United States > US; Arctic region; Greenland
• ISSN: 1748-9326; 1748-9326
• DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/aae7ef

Arctic societies, like Arctic environments, exhibit variability and rapid change. Social and environmental changes are sometimes interconnected, but Arctic societies also are buffeted by socioeconomic forces which can create problems or drive changes that eclipse those with environmental roots. Social indicators research offers a general approach for describing change and understanding causality through the use of numerical indices of population, health, education, and other key dimensions that can be compared across places and times. Here we illustrate such work with new analyses of demographic indicators, particularly involving migration, for contemporary communities of three predominantly Inuit Arctic regions: northern Alaska, Greenland, and Nunavut. Many places exhibit persistent outmigration, affecting population growth. Net migration and growth rates are not significantly different, however, comparing northern Alaska communities that are or are not threatened by climate-linked erosion. Stepping back to compare the three regions highlights their contrasting birth rates (high in northern Alaska and Nunavut) and outmigration (high in Alaska and Greenland)-yielding divergent population trajectories of gradual decline in Greenland, erratic but slow growth in Alaska, and rapid growth in Nunavut. Evidence for one consequential pattern observed in northern Alaska and Greenland, disproportionate outmigration by locally-born women, appears weak or absent in Nunavut.