Health changes in Greenland have evolved in association with rapid social changes, ageing of the population, urbanisation, changes in diet and physical activity. Two population-based studies found a notably high prevalence of diabetes (9%) and pre-diabetes (19%) among Greenland Inuit. Contrary to most other studies, the highest prevalence of diabetes and pre-diabetes was observed in the least urbanised areas, and the traditional Inuit diet was associated with a higher risk of glucose intolerance. A recent study identified a strong association of a common TBC1D4 nonsense variant with diabetes.