This article reports on the rates of suicide in Greenland from 1900 to 1985. The work is based on police reports on completed suicides accompanying death certificates. In all cases the death was without doubt self-inflicted. A comparison of deaths from all causes throughout this period reveals that the rate of death from unnatural causes remained rather stable and the rate of death from natural causes declined, in contrast to the rate of suicides which climbed steeply. (7 refs)