GREENLAND. Ilulissat. 2018.
A man crosses a crack in the ice in the inner harbor of Ilulissat. The town is a major hub for Greenlandic fisheries. Many young people, especially women, move to the capital city of Nuuk, or abroad, to find opportunities outside of the traditional hunting and fishing activities.

Greenland is facing a migration pattern that, if it continues, is a matter of national survival: The world's biggest island is loosing its women.

Nearly 90 percent of the country's roughly 56,000 inhabitants are Greenlandic inuit. Many young Greenlanders leave the country seeking work and educational opportunities, or alternatives to the traditional indigenous lifestyle abroad. But the women return to Greenland far less often than the men. Today there are less than nine women for every tenth man. To counter the exodus, Greenlandic authorities are working to create jobs that appeal to the country's highly educated women—even easing restrictions on oil and mining operations to attract investment from the extractive industries.