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:
Nunavut’s social assistance program
Social assistance is the income program of last resort. It is intended for those 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 total incomes available to social assistance recipients, visit the Welfare in Canada report.
In Nunavut, social assistance is delivered under the Income Assistance program. It is intended to help Nunavut families and individuals meet their basic needs when, for various reasons, including disability, illness, low income, or periods of unemployment, they are unable to provide for themselves. The Income Assistance program provides basic benefits to residents 18 years of age and older for food, shelter, utilities, fuel, and municipal services.
Extended benefits for incidental allowance (for seniors and persons with disabilities), clothing, household furniture, security/damage deposits, emergency, and education are also paid to eligible individuals.
For a person with a disability to be eligible for incidental allowance under Income Assistance, they must have physical or mental impairments that significantly restrict the ability to perform daily living activities permanently or temporarily for at least six months, result in requiring assistance with daily living activities, and medical treatment would not heal.
How many people claim social assistance?
In the 2024-25 fiscal year, on average, there were 5,207 cases (family units and unattached single adults) and 11,207 beneficiaries (individual claimants, their partners, and dependent children) in Nunavut’s Income Assistance program. The number of cases had a small decrease of 37 cases (0.7 per cent), while beneficiaries increased by 450 (4.2 per cent).
Over the longer term, the number of cases rose during the 2000s and early 2010s but was relatively stable in recent years until 2020, which saw a sharp increase in cases and a notable decrease in beneficiaries. After a sharp drop in cases and beneficiaries in 2021-22, both increased again in 2022-23. Cases rose while beneficiaries dropped in 2023-24; in 2024-25, the opposite occurred.
Within the Income Assistance program, on average, 736 cases were persons with disabilities who also received incidental allowance. This number increased by 52, or around 8 per cent, from the previous year.
Note that incidental allowance is delivered to individuals not households, which means that the cases and beneficiaries are the same. As such, this report focuses on cases of incidental allowance for persons with disabilities.
Figure 1NU: Yearly cases and beneficiaries of Income Assistance in Nunavut, 2000 to 2024-25
Figure 2NU – Yearly cases of disability-related incidental allowance under Income Assistance in Nunavut, 2020-21 to 2024-25
What proportion of the population receives social assistance?
In 2024-25, on average, 28.4 per cent of people in Nunavut under 65 received the Income Assistance program, which is about 2 in 7. On average, the proportion fluctuated between 40 and 50 per cent until 2017, after which it began to decline, reaching its lowest point in 2021-22. After increasing for the first time in six years in 2022-23, it decreased in 2023-24; in 2024-25, it increased by 2.5 per cent.
Figure 3NU: Yearly beneficiaries of Income Assistance as a proportion of the under-65 population in Nunavut, 2005 to 2024-25
Note: The total population under 65 is estimated on July 1 of the fiscal year (e.g., July 1, 2024, for 2024-25, whereas social assistance beneficiary data is a fiscal year average (April 1 to March 31) from 2020-21 onward, and a calendar year average (January 1 to December 31) from 2005 to 2020. Beneficiary statistics are not available for 2000 to 2004 and 2014.
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 Income Assistance cases in Nunavut were unattached singles, representing 60 per cent. Single parents were the second-largest household, with 23 per cent of cases.
Among those who received disability-related incidental allowance under Income Assistance in 2024-25, on average, the largest number of cases was unattached singles representing 73 per cent, followed by single parents, representing 12 per cent of cases.
Additional disaggregated data on the number of beneficiaries by household type for each program is available for download here.
Figure 4NU: Cases and beneficiaries of Income Assistance by household in Nunavut, 2020-21 to 2024-25
Figure 5NU: Cases of disability-related incidental allowance under Income Assistance by household in Nunavut, 2020-21 to 2024-25
Age of adult beneficiaries
For the 2024-25 period, all jurisdictions were required to submit age data using a new breakdown to provide deeper insights into caseload dynamics. As Nunavut was the only jurisdiction unable to provide data in this new format, the age data in this section remained in the old format. Nunavut is expected to transition to the new reporting requirements by next year.
From 2020-21 to 2024-25, on average, the 18-29 age group was the most common among adult beneficiaries receiving Income Assistance. Those aged 30-39 were the second-largest group to receive Income Assistance. Adults aged 40-49 made up the third largest group to receive Income Assistance. Those aged 50-59 and over 60 were the smallest groups. The share of each age group among Income Assistance beneficiaries remained fairly steady over the period.
For adults receiving disability-related incidental allowance under Income Assistance, on average, the most common age group was 50-59. The share of this age group dropped in 2021-22, increased in 2022-23, and stayed steady after that. Those aged 18-29 were the second-largest group to receive the disability-related incidental allowance under IA in 2020-21 and dropped to third in 2021-22, dropping even further to fourth in 2024-25. Adults aged 30-39 were consistently the second-largest group to receive this allowance since 2021-22. The smallest age groups to receive this allowance were, in that order, 50-59 and over 60 – though their numbers were slightly rising over the period.
Figure 6NU: Percentage of adult beneficiaries of Income Assistance by age group in Nunavut, 2020-21 to 2024-25
Figure 7NU: Percentage of adults receiving disability-related incidental allowance under Income Assistance by age group in Nunavut, 2020-21 to 2024-25
Access to data
The data on social assistance recipients in Nunavut is available for download, including:
- Total cases and beneficiaries;
- Percentage of beneficiaries relative to the total under-65 population;
- Cases and beneficiaries by household type;
- Beneficiaries/cases by gender;
- Single households by gender;
- Adult beneficiaries by age group; and
- Percentage of cases receiving employment income.
Data notes
- From 2020-21 onward, data reflects the average number of cases and beneficiaries over the fiscal year (April 1 to March 31).
- From 2005 to 2020, data reflects the average number of cases and beneficiaries over the calendar year (January 1 to December 31).
- Income Assistance (disability only) refers to Income Assistance recipients with disabilities who also receive the incidental allowance. Note that incidental allowance is delivered to individuals not households; thus, only cases are included.
- While the gender distribution of Income Assistance and disability-related incidental allowance under Income Assistance are 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.
- In Nunavut, employment income is defined as net salary and wages including voluntary deductions, as well as net income from hunting, trapping, fishing, business operations, and other self-employment.
- Recipient statistics are not available for 2000 to 2004 and 2014.
- The data for 2019 is an average for the months of January to October. The data in November and December has been omitted due to validity concerns.
- Information about how the data is gathered.