The world's largest island after Australia, Greenland is situated in the North Atlantic and surrounded by seas that are either frozen or cooled by cold Arctic currents. With an Arctic climate, much of its land is permanently ice-covered. Granted home rule in 1979, Greenlanders are of mixed Inuit and European origin. Younger islanders increasingly reject the traditional, fishing-based, subsistence lifestyle by moving to towns, placing a heavy burden on the advanced welfare system. Proposals to develop the mining of ice for drinking water could create vast revenues, even raising the possibility of economic independence.