Northern societies have organized into units for political organization and economic activity. While the North is rich in resources, it has often been exploited by non-northerners, while northerners struggle to achieve sustainable local economies. This theme includes economic relationships between north and south, and measures of subsistence, human capital, and participation in different sectors of the economy.

The Arctic Human Development Report (AHDR) as well as the publication The Economy of the North The Economy of the North, and the ArcticStat project have produced some of the first sets of economic statistical data that were comparable across the circumpolar region through the cooperation of international researchers and the Arctic governments. This map shows disposal income levels per capita across sub-national units in the Arctic region from 2005.

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The membership of the University of the Arctic includes over one hundred higher education institutions and other organizations dedicated to education in the North. This map displays the main campus locations of UArctic members, as well as showing higher education institutions by relative size. This data has been compiled from information submitted by our members in our annual member survey.


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The Economy of the North 2008 provides an excellent overview of the dynamics of Arctic economies. This map shows per capita Gross Regional Product (2005 USD-PPP), calculated from official national statistics agencies data, revealing large disparities between resource rich and other Arctic regions.

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UArctic's Thematic Networks foster issues-based cooperation within networks which are focused but flexible enough to respond quicly to topical Arctic issues. They form a natural framework for development of UArctic education and research providing an optimal structure for increasing the knowledge generation and sharing across the North.


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