Saarloq is a settlement in the Kujalleq municipality

Kujalleq

Kujalleq is a new municipality in the southern tip of Greenland, operational from 1 January 2009. With 7,589 inhabitants as of January 2010, it is the least-populated municipality in Greenland. The administrative center of the municipality is in Qaqortoq...

 in southern Greenland

Greenland

Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...

. Its population is 44 as of 2010. It is located on a small island with the same name off the Labrador Sea

Labrador Sea

The Labrador Sea is an arm of the North Atlantic Ocean between the Labrador Peninsula and Greenland. The sea is flanked by continental shelves to the southwest, northwest, and northeast. It connects to the north with Baffin Bay through the Davis Strait...

 coast at approximately 60°32′15"N 46°01′33"W, at the mouth of the Qaqortoq Fjord, west of Alluitsup Paa

Alluitsup Paa

Alluitsup Paa is a village in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. Founded in 1830, Alluitsup Paa had 303 residents in 2010....

 and 20 km south of Qaqortoq

Qaqortoq

Qaqortoq is a town in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. With a population of 3,230 as of 2011, it is the most populous town in southern Greenland, and the fourth-largest town in the country. The name is western Greenlandic and means "[the] white [one]".- History :The area around...

.

The settlement is the southernmost of the three settlements--along Eqalugaarsuit

Eqalugaarsuit

Eqalugaarsuit is a settlement in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland, located southeast of Qaqortoq and northwest of Alluitsup Paa. Its population was 144 as of 2010....

 and Qassimiut

Qassimiut

Qassimiut is a settlement in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. The settlement was founded in 1835 as a trading station...

--that made up the former Qaqortoq municipality. The settlements are presently governed by a joint settlement council.

On January 1, 2009, the settlement became part of the Kujalleq municipality, when the Narsaq

Narsaq

Narsaq is a town in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. The name Narsaq is Greenlandic for "plain", referring to the beautiful plain on the shore of Tunulliarfik Fjord where the town is located.- History :...

, Qaqortoq

Qaqortoq

Qaqortoq is a town in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. With a population of 3,230 as of 2011, it is the most populous town in southern Greenland, and the fourth-largest town in the country. The name is western Greenlandic and means "[the] white [one]".- History :The area around...

, and Nanortalik

Nanortalik

Nanortalik is a town in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. With 1,448 inhabitants in 2010, it is the tenth-largest town in the country. The name Nanortalik means "place of polar bears" or "place where the polar bears go" .- History :...

 municipalities ceased to exist.

Infrastructure and communications

The settlement has its' own church, and a school--Atuarfik Saarloq, Greenlandic

Kalaallisut language

Greenlandic is an Eskimo–Aleut language spoken by about 57,000 people in Greenland. It is closely related to the Inuit languages in Canada, such as Inuktitut...

 for "school of Saarloq"--with 5 to 6 pupils.

There are no cars in the settlement, and there is no heliport; transportation is by sea only. Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

 and phone communications are provided by the Home Rule

Home rule

Home rule is the power of a constituent part of a state to exercise such of the state's powers of governance within its own administrative area that have been devolved to it by the central government....

 government.

Drinking water is provided by desalination

Desalination

Desalination, desalinization, or desalinisation refers to any of several processes that remove some amount of salt and other minerals from saline water...

of the sea water. The settlement has three 1,100 liter fresh water tanks for this purpose.

Population

Most towns and settlements in southern Greenland exhibit negative growth patterns over the last two decades, with many settlements rapidly depopulating. The population of Saarloq has decreased nearly a half relative to the 1990 levels, by nearly a third relative to the 2000 levels.