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 2023-24 fiscal year, on average, there were 5,244 cases (family units and unattached single adults) and 10,757 beneficiaries (individual claimants, their partners, and dependent children) in Nunavut’s Income Assistance program. The number of cases had a small increase of 41 cases (0.8 per cent) while beneficiaries decreased by 152 (1.4 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, 684 cases were persons with a disability who also received incidental allowance. This number increased by 20, or 3 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 2023-24
Figure 2NU – Yearly cases of disability-related incidental allowance under Income Assistance in Nunavut, 2020-21 to 2023-24
What proportion of the population receives social assistance?
In 2023-24, on average, 27.7 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 by 1.7 per cent this year.
Note: The total population under 65 is estimated on July 1 of the fiscal year (e.g., July 1, 2023, for 2023-24), 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.
Figure 3NU: Yearly beneficiaries of Income Assistance as a proportion of the under-65 population in Nunavut, 2005 to 2023-24
Who is receiving social assistance (disaggregated data)?
This section examines disaggregated data on cases and beneficiaries by household type, and cases receiving employment income.
Household type
In 2023-24, on average, the majority of Income Assistance cases in Nunavut were unattached singles, representing about 59 per cent. Single parents were the second largest household with about 24 per cent of cases.
Single parent households were on average the highest proportion of Income Assistance beneficiaries in 2023-24 with 35 per cent, followed by couples with children with 34.5 per cent, then unattached singles with 28 per cent.
Among those who received disability-related incidental allowance under Income Assistance in 2023-24, on average, the largest number of cases were unattached singles representing over 73 per cent, followed by single parents, representing 11 per cent of cases.
Figure 4NU: Cases and beneficiaries of Income Assistance by household in Nunavut, 2020-21 to 2023-24
Cases
Beneficiaries
Figure 5NU: Cases of disability-related incidental allowance under Income Assistance by household in Nunavut, 2020-21 to 2023-24
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 2023-24, on average, just over 30 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 17.8 per cent, representing a decrease from last year.
Figure 6NU: Percentage of Income Assistance cases and Income Assistance cases receiving disability-related incidental allowance with employment income in Nunavut, 2020-21 to 2023-24
Additional disaggregated data on gender and age is available for download below.
It’s important to note that 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.
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 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).
- Income Assistance (disability only) refers to Income Assistance recipients with a disability who also receive the incidental allowance. Note that incidental allowance is delivered to individuals not households, thus only cases are included.
- 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.