Health Profile of Nunavik 2011: Demographic and Socioeconomic Conditions

Population

  • Nunavik's population has doubled over the past 30 years, growing from 5,860 in 1986 to 11,860 in 2011.
  • Nunavik's population is young: approximately one third (34%) of the population is under 15 years of age, compared to 16% for Québec.
  • The population aged 65 or older has been constantly growing since the end of the nineties and will continue to grow over the next few years: the proportion of people aged 65 or older will increase from 3% in 2011 to 8% in 2031.
  • Nunavik can be easily compared with other Inuit regions: they all have a large proportion of young people and few elderly at this time.

Fertility

  • The average number of children per woman in Nunavik is one of the highest in Québec with 3.2 children per woman in Nunavik and 1.6 in Québec for the 2004–2008 period.
  • The women of Nunavik have children at a younger age than their peers in Québec: the average age of mothers at birth was 25 years old in Nunavik and 29 years old in Québec for the 2004–2008 period.
  • Fertility among Inuit is similar in Nunavik and Nunavut. The number of children per woman registered in the two areas is 3.3 and 3.0 children respectively.

Family and marital status

  • Nunavimmiut families are large: the average number of people in the census family was 3.9 in Nunavik and 2.9 in Québec in 2006.
  • In 2006, 30% of private households in Nunavik had 4 to 5 people, and 25% were made up of 6 or more people. In Québec, fewer than 20% of households were made up of 4 people or more.

Level of education

  • Nunavik's population still has low education levels but has an increasing number of graduates. In 2006, among people aged 25 to 64, 10% had a high school diploma, 30% had a post-secondary diploma below a bachelor's degree, and 10% had a university degree.
  • The partial post-secondary diploma is the most common in Nunavik and in the other Inuit regions.

Jobs and employment

  • Among those 25 years and older, the employment rate in 2006 was slightly higher in Nunavik (64%) than in Québec (61%), unlike those in the group 15 to 24 years of age, where the employment rate is far lower (38% vs. 56%).
  • Unemployment rates among those 25 years of age and older was 15% in Nunavik and 6% in Québec in 2006. Among youth aged 15 to 24, the employment rate was 27% and 12%, respectively.
  • The employment rate in Nunavik can be compared to that of Nunavut and the Inuvialuit region at approximately 60%.

Income

  • In Nunavik, income was lower than in Québec, in spite of the higher cost of living: the median income after taxes for individuals 15 years and older who were earning an income in 2005 was $20,971 in and $22,471 in Québec.
  • In Nunavik, women's income ($22,912) was higher than those of men ($18,793) in 2005.
  • For Nunangat, men in Nunavik and Nunavut have a median income of nearly $4,000 less than men in other regions. However, women in Nunavik have higher salaries: the differential varied from $6,000 in Nunatsiavut to $3,000 in the Inuvialuit Region.

Food security

  • According to the Qanuippitaa health survey, 24% of the population of Nunavik reports having experienced food insecurity during the month preceding the survey. These proportions reached 32% on the Hudson coast and 14% on the Ungava coast.
  • Food insecurity was also felt in other Inuit regions. In 2006, 33% of Inuit children in Nunavik aged 6 to 14 experienced food insecurity. These proportions hit 39% in Nunavut and 30% and 12% in Nunatsiavut and the Inuvialuit region respectively.
Types of Publication
ISBN (Digital)
978-2-922764-29-1
ISBN (Print)
978-2-922764-28-4
ISSN (Digital)
1929-2082
ISSN (Print)
1929-2074
Santecom Number
Date de publication