The Social Assistance Summaries series tracks the number of recipients of social assistance (welfare payments) in each province and territory.
In this section you will find:
Alberta’s social assistance programs
Social assistance is the income program of last resort. It is intended for households who have exhausted all other means of financial support. Every province and territory has its own social assistance program(s), and no two are the same. For the total incomes available to social assistance recipients, visit the Welfare in Canada report.
In Alberta, there are two social assistance programs:
- Income Support; and
- Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped.
Income Support
The Income Support program provides financial benefits to individuals and families in Alberta who do not have the resources to meet their basic needs, including food, clothing, and shelter.
The caseload and beneficiary data below refers to those receiving Income Support. There are three channels through which Albertans can qualify for Income Support:
- Barriers to Full Employment – for those who cannot work due to chronic health problems or other barriers to employment;
- Expected to Work – for those looking for work, working but not earning enough, or temporarily unable to work; and
- Emergency Allowance – for those with an unexpected, one-time emergency through no fault of their own (e.g., sudden eviction due to fire).
For a person with a disability to be eligible to Barriers to Full Employment under Income Support, they must have a long-term inability to participate in full employment due to multiple barriers beyond their control, or a persistent mental or physical health problem of more than six months’ duration.
Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH)
The AISH program provides financial and health-related assistance to eligible adult Albertans with a disability.
For a person with a disability to be eligible for AISH, they must have a mental or physical impairment that causes substantial limitation in their ability to earn a livelihood and is likely to affect them permanently. They must also meet criteria for income, assets, age, and residency.
How many people claim social assistance?
On average, there were just over 134,994 cases (family units and unattached single adults) receiving social assistance in Alberta during the 2024-25 fiscal year. Forty-two per cent (57,347) received Income Support and 58 per cent (77,647) received Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH).
Income Support had 98,159 beneficiaries (individual claimants, their partners, and dependent children).
The total number of social assistance cases increased, on average, by 9,871 in 2024-25. This increase came from both programs.
To access data on cases and beneficiaries of social assistance in Alberta, including disaggregated data, download the spreadsheet.
Income Support
On average, there were 57,347 cases of Income Support in 2024-25, an increase of 7,595, or 15 per cent. The number of beneficiaries increased by about 11,034, or 13 per cent, to 98,159.
These increases for both cases and beneficiaries are the third in a row, after two years of significant decreases. Both numbers peaked in 2019-20.
Within the Income Support program, on average, 18,188 cases, or about 32 per cent, and 26,681 beneficiaries, or 27 per cent, received benefits through the Barriers to Full Employment (BFE) stream in 2024-25.
While Income Support cases and beneficiaries increased overall in 2024-25, the BFE stream has decreased as a relative percentage of the total caseload from the previous year. While on average, BFE cases increased by 885, or 5 per cent, and BFE beneficiaries increased by 1,169, or about 5 per cent. However, the proportion of BFE cases and beneficiaries within the Income Support program has decreased by 3 and 2 per cent, respectively. This indicates that the BFE stream has not increased at the same rate as the Income Support program.
Figure 1AB: Yearly cases and beneficiaries of Income Support in Alberta, 1997 to 2024-25
Figure 2AB: Yearly cases and beneficiaries of BFE under Income Support in Alberta, 2021 to 2024-25
Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH)
During the 2024-25 fiscal year, there were, on average, 77,647 cases in Alberta’s AISH program. The number of cases has been rising steadily over the last two decades, with an increase of 2,276 cases on average, or 3 per cent, between 2023-24 and 2024-25.
Figure 3AB: Yearly cases of AISH in Alberta, 1997 to 2024-25
What proportion of the population receives social assistance?
In 2024-25, 4.3 per cent of people in Alberta under 65 received Income Support or AISH, which is about one in 23.
The proportion of Income Support beneficiaries decreased gradually until 2007-08, followed by a period of fluctuation between 1.5 per cent and 2.5 per cent from 2008-09 to 2013-14. The period starting 2014-15 saw a gradual increase, reaching a peak of 2.7 per cent in 2019-20. In 2020-21 and 2021-22, the proportion of Income Support recipients declined, followed by a yearly increase from 2022-23 to 2.4 per cent in 2024-25.
The proportion of individuals under 65 receiving AISH has steadily increased since 1997, reaching 1.9 per cent in 2021-22 and remaining at that level through 2024-25.
Figure 4AB: Yearly beneficiaries of Income Support and cases of AISH as a proportion of the under-65 Alberta population, 1997 to 2024-25
Who is receiving social assistance?
This section examines disaggregated data on cases by household type and adult beneficiaries by age group.
Household type
In 2024-25, on average, the majority of cases among households were unattached singles for both Income Support and AISH, representing 39,513 (69 per cent) and 66,749 (86 per cent), respectively.
Among those who received BFE under Social Assistance, on average, 14,114 (78 per cent of cases) were unattached singles in 2024-25. Single parents were second, representing 2,749 (15 per cent of cases).
Additional disaggregated data on the number of beneficiaries by household type for each program is available for download here.
Figure 5AB: Cases of Income Support by household in Alberta, 2021 to 2024-25
Figure 6AB: Cases of BFE under Income Support by household in Alberta, 2021 to 2024-25
Figure 7AB: Cases of AISH by household in Alberta, 2021 to 2024-25
Age of heads of household
From 2021 to 2024-25, the most common age group among heads of household was 30-54 years old, followed by those aged 55-65, 18-29, and over 65. This age distribution pattern was consistent among heads of household receiving Income Support, BFE under Income Support, and AISH.
The share of recipients aged 18-29 showed a slight upward trend among those receiving Income Support, while for those receiving BFE under Income Support and AISH remained steady.
The share of heads of households aged 30-54 increased among those receiving Income Support and AISH, while it declined slightly among those receiving BFE under Income Support.
The share of those aged 55-65 declined slightly for those receiving AISH, Income Support, and BFE under Income Support.
For the share of those over 65, those receiving Income Support and BFE under Income Support increased, while for those receiving AISH stayed steady.
Note: The age group data for Alberta is only for heads of household, unlike other jurisdictions, which provided data for all adult beneficiaries.
Figure 8AB: Heads of household receiving Income Support by age category in Alberta, 2021 to 2024-25
Figure 9AB: Heads of household receiving BFE under Income Support by age category in Alberta, 2021 to 2024-25
Figure 10AB: Heads of household receiving AISH by age category in Alberta, 2021 to 2024-25
Access to data
The data on social assistance recipients in Alberta is available for download, including:
- Total number of cases and beneficiaries;
- Percentage of beneficiaries relative to the total under-65 population;
- Cases and beneficiaries by household type;
- Beneficiaries (Income Support) and cases (AISH) by gender;
- Single households by gender;
- Heads of household by age group; and
- Percentage of cases receiving employment income.
Data notes
- The Income Support program (formerly Alberta Works) was implemented in 2004. The data for 2003 and earlier is for its predecessor, the Supports for Independence program.
- The data reflects the number of cases and beneficiaries on March 31 of each year from 1997 to 2000 for Income Support and 1997 to 2010 for AISH.
- The data reflects the average number of cases and beneficiaries over the fiscal year (April 1 to March 31) from 2000-01 onward for Income Support and from 2010-11 onward for AISH.
- For all five disaggregated variables, 2021 numbers are for March 31 of that year; 2021-22 onward are fiscal year averages.
- While the gender distribution of Income Support, BFE, and AISH is typically balanced between males and females, the gender of single households reveals a more pronounced gender pattern. Typically, unattached singles are predominantly male, while single parents are primarily female.
- Income Support figures do not include First Nations living on reserves. AISH figures include First Nations living on reserves.
- Figures for 1997 to 2000 for Income Support and 1997 to 2007 for AISH are drawn from the 2008 and 2009-13 Social Assistance Statistical Reports with figures rounded to 100s.
- Figures for 2008 onward are the actual numbers supplied by Alberta Seniors, Community and Social Services.
- Income Support cases receiving employment income were identified by the following client types, all of which are required to provide proof of earnings: Self-employed, employed full-time, employed part-time. A complete list of client types and their descriptions can be found in the policy manual.
- From 2024-25 onward, age groups were redefined as 18-29, 30-54, 55-65, and over 65. Previous data on adult beneficiaries by age group was revised to maintain consistency across reporting years.
- In Alberta, employment income includes money earned for an applicant or recipient from a range of sources, such as salary, wages, certain commissions, bonuses, tips, gratuities, and honoraria. Income from other sources may also be considered as employment income.
- Note that, for some variables, totals may not match the sum of disaggregated variables.
- Information about how the data is gathered.
Resources
- Download the all-Canada report as a PDF
- Download the data for Alberta
- Download the data for all of Canada
- Further breakdowns on social assistance data in Alberta can be found on the province’s website. Data on the Income Support caseload is available here and data on the AISH caseload is available here.