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:
Newfoundland and Labrador’s social assistance program
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 modelling of total incomes available to social assistance recipients, visit the Welfare in Canada report.
In Newfoundland and Labrador, social assistance is referred to as Income Support (IS).
IS provides financial benefits and other services to eligible low-income people to assist in meeting daily living expenses. Basic benefits include a family and individual benefit (to assist with expenses such as food, clothing, personal care, household maintenance, and utilities) and a shelter benefit (to assist with rent, mortgage costs, utilities, and municipal taxes).
Depending on individual circumstances, recipients may also qualify for non-basic benefits such as municipal tax payments, prescription glasses, and special diets. Recipients can also receive further benefits outside of IS by other departments and agencies, such as a prescription drug card, medical transportation, and medical equipment.
The Income Support program in Newfoundland and Labrador does not provide benefits based on the applicant having a disability. However, there are programs offered by NL Health Services that provide benefits, which often top up income support, where eligibility is determined through an assessment of disability. In addition, the Newfoundland and Labrador Disability Benefit (NLDB), introduced in July 2025 and delivered through the tax system, also provides assistance. Both these programs are separate from Income Support. Consequently, they fall outside the scope of this publication.
How many people claim social assistance?
In 2024-25, there were, on average, 20,942 cases (family units and unattached single adults) and just over 29,200 beneficiaries (individual claimants, their partners, and dependent children) in Newfoundland and Labrador’s Income Support (IS) program.
The number of cases and beneficiaries fell consistently from the mid-1990s through to the mid-2010s, followed by a period of stability up until the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. After two years of decreases in 2020-2021 and 2021-22, cases and beneficiaries of IS began to increase in 2022-23. This continued in 2024-25, when cases and beneficiaries increased by just over 1 and 0.3 per cent, respectively.
To access data on cases and beneficiaries of social assistance in Newfoundland and Labrador, including disaggregated data, download the spreadsheet here.
Figure 1NL: Yearly cases and beneficiaries of IS in Newfoundland and Labrador, 1996-97 to 2024-25
What proportion of the population receives social assistance?
In 2024-25, on average, 7.1 per cent of people in Newfoundland and Labrador under 65 received Income Support (IS), which is approximately one in 14. On average, the proportion has consistently fallen. From a high of 14.7 per cent in 1996-97, the proportion has decreased by more than half since.
Figure 2NL: Yearly beneficiaries of IS as a proportion of the under-65 population in Newfoundland and Labrador, 1996-97 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).
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, unattached singles were the majority household of cases of IS representing, on average, 16,131 cases (approximately 77 per cent). Single parents were second with more than 3,500 cases (17 per cent).
Additional disaggregated data on the number of beneficiaries by household type for each program is available for download here.
Figure 3NL: Cases and beneficiaries of IS by household in Newfoundland and Labrador, 2020-21 to 2024-25
Age of adult beneficiaries
Overall, from 2021 to 2024-25, the most common age group among adult beneficiaries receiving IS was 30–54, followed in order by 55-65, 18-29, and over 65.
The share of 30-54 was rising among adult beneficiaries receiving IS, while the share of 55-65 increased until 2021-22 and slightly declined since then.
The share of the 18-29 age group was steady over the period of the analysis. Meanwhile, the share of the over 65 age group was gradually increasing.
Figure 4NL: Percentage of adult beneficiaries of IS by age group in Newfoundland and Labrador, 2020-21 to 2024-25
Access to data
The data on social assistance recipients in Newfoundland and Labrador 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 by gender;
- Single households by gender;
- Adult beneficiaries by age group; and
- Percentage of cases receiving employment income.
Data notes
- The data reflects the average number of cases and beneficiaries over the fiscal year (April 1 to March 31).
- Beneficiaries whose gender option is neither male nor female are labelled as “X.”
- While the gender distribution of Income Support 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.
- The Income Support program in Newfoundland and Labrador does not provide benefits based on the applicant having a disability. However, there are programs offered by NL Health Services that provide benefits, which often top up income support, where eligibility is determined through an assessment of disability. In addition, the Newfoundland and Labrador Disability Benefit (NLDB), introduced in July 2025 and delivered through the tax system, also provides assistance. Both these programs are separate from Income Support. Consequently, they fall outside the scope of this publication.
- Employment income data was reviewed for 2022-23 and 2024-25 to reflect improvements in data collection.
- 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.
- There are three First Nations reserves in Newfoundland and Labrador. Conne River is self-governed and operates its own social services programs. Its case and beneficiary numbers are included in the data. The two other reserves are in Labrador: Natuashish and Sheshatshiu. From April 1, 2016, the delivery of Income Support was devolved to the Innu and statistics for these communities are no longer included in the data.
- Information about how the data is gathered.
Resources
- Download the all-Canada report as a PDF
- Download the data for Newfoundland and Labrador
- Download the data for all of Canada
- Further breakdowns on social assistance data in Newfoundland and Labrador can be found on the province’s website