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 (description)
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 modelling of 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 a disability), 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, that result in requiring assistance with daily living activities, and that medical treatment would not heal.
How many people claim social assistance?
In the 2022-23 fiscal year, on average, there were 5,200 cases (family units and unattached single adults) and about 10,900 beneficiaries (individual claimants, their partners, and dependent children) in Nunavut’s Income Assistance program. Both numbers saw small increases in 2022-23, by 370 cases (8 per cent) and 570 beneficiaries (6 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. This was followed by a significant decrease in the number of cases and beneficiaries in 2021-22, and then increases to both cases and beneficiaries in 2022-23.
Within the Income Assistance program, on average, about 664 cases, or 13 per cent, were persons with a disability who also received incidental allowance. This number increased by 82, or 14 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 a disability.
To access data on cases and beneficiaries of social assistance in Nunavut, including disaggregated data, download the spreadsheet here.
Figure 1NU: Yearly cases and beneficiaries of Income Assistance in Nunavut, 2000 to 2022-23
Figure 2NU: Yearly cases of disability-related incidental allowance under Income Assistance in Nunavut, 2020-21 to 2022-23
What proportion of the population receives social assistance?
In 2022-23, on average, 28.2 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. The increase in 2022-23 was the first in 6 years.
Note: The total population under 65 is estimated on July 1 of the fiscal year (e.g., July 1, 2022, for 2022-23), whereas social assistance beneficiary data is a fiscal year average (April to March) from 2020-21 onward, and a calendar year average (January to December) from 2005 to 2020.
Figure 3NU: Yearly beneficiaries of Income Assistance as a proportion of the under-65 population in Nunavut, 2005 to 2022
Who is receiving social assistance (disaggregated data)?
This section examines the following disaggregated data:
- Cases and beneficiaries by household type;
- Beneficiaries/cases by gender;
- Heads of household by gender for unattached singles and single parents;
- Adult beneficiaries by age category; and
- Cases receiving employment income.
Note that the figures below represent percentages but total numbers are available.
Household type
In 2022-23, on average, the majority of Income Assistance cases in Nunavut were unattached singles, representing over 57 per cent. Single parents were the second largest household with just under 24 per cent of cases.
Couples with children were on average the highest proportion of Income Assistance beneficiaries in 2022-23 with over 37 per cent, followed by single parent households with 34 per cent, then unattached singles with less than 27 per cent.
Among those who received disability-related incidental allowance under Income Assistance in 2022-23, on average, the largest number of cases were unattached singles representing over 72 per cent, followed by single parents, representing just over 12 per cent of cases.
Figure 4NU: Percentage of cases and beneficiaries of Income Assistance by household in Nunavut, 2020-21 to 2022-23
Cases
Beneficiaries
Figure 5NU: Percentage of cases of disability-related incidental allowance under Income Assistance by household in Nunavut, 2020-21 to 2022-23
Beneficiaries/cases by gender
On average, males were the majority of Income Assistance beneficiaries in 2022-23, representing close to 53 per cent. Males were the majority of cases of disability-related incidental allowance under Income Assistance, representing almost 61 per cent.
Figure 6NU: Percentage of beneficiaries of Income Assistance by gender in Nunavut, 2020-21 to 2022-23
Figure 7NU: Percentage of cases of disability-related incidental allowance under Income Assistance by gender in Nunavut, 2020-21 to 2022-23
Gender of heads of household
In 2022-23, on average, the majority of unattached singles receiving Income Assistance were male, representing over 74 per cent. In contrast, the majority of heads of single parent households were female, representing almost 87 per cent.
The gender distribution is similar for disability-related incidental allowance under Income Assistance in 2022-23. On average, over 71 per cent of unattached singles were male and 89 per cent of heads of single parent households were female.
Figure 8NU: Percentage of heads of unattached single and single parent households receiving Income Assistance by gender in Nunavut, 2020-21 to 2022-23
Figure 9NU: Percentage of heads of unattached single and single parent households receiving disability-related incidental allowance under Income Assistance by gender in Nunavut, 2020-21 to 2022-23
Age of adult beneficiaries
In 2022-23, on average, the most common age group of adult beneficiaries receiving Income Assistance was 18-29, representing 39 per cent. The least common age group was people over 60, representing under 5 per cent.
For adults receiving disability-related incidental allowance under Income Assistance, on average, the most common age group in 2022-23 was 50-59, representing 28 per cent. The least common age group was over 60 with less than 10 per cent.
Figure 10NU: Percentage of adult beneficiaries of Income Assistance by age category in Nunavut, 2020-21 to 2022-23
Figure 11NU: Percentage of adults receiving disability-related incidental allowance under Income Assistance by age category in Nunavut, 2020-21 to 2022-23
Employment income
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.
In 2022-23, on average, almost 36 per cent of Income Assistance cases had employment income. The percentage has steadily increased since 2020-21. Cases receiving disability-related incidental allowance under Income Assistance were less likely to have employment income at 23 per cent, an increase following a decrease in 2021-22.
Figure 12NU: Percentage of Income Assistance cases and Income Assistance cases receiving disability-related incidental allowance with employment income in Nunavut, 2020-21 to 2022-23
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;
- Heads of household by gender for unattached single and single parent households;
- Adult beneficiaries by age category; and
- Percentage of cases receiving employment income.
Data notes
- From 2020-21 onwards, 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).
- 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.
- Click here for more information about how the data is gathered.