Nunavut
Nunavut
ᓄᓇᕗᑦ (Inuktitut syllabics) | |
|---|---|
| Motto(s): ᓄᓇᕗᑦ ᓴᙱᓂᕗᑦ (Nunavut Sannginivut) "Our land, our strength" "Notre terre, notre force" | |
| Coordinates: 70°10′N 90°44′W / 70.167°N 90.733°W | |
| Country | Canada |
| Before confederation | Districts of Franklin, Keewatin, Mackenzie |
| Confederation | April 1, 1999 (13th) |
| Capital (and largest city) | Iqaluit |
| Government | |
| • Type | Parliamentary system with consensus government |
| • Commissioner | Eva Aariak |
| • Premier | John Main |
| Legislature | Legislative Assembly of Nunavut |
| Federal representation | Parliament of Canada |
| House seats | 1 of 343 (0.3%) |
| Senate seats | 1 of 105 (1%) |
| Area (2021 – land, 2020 – water) | |
• Total | 2,093,190 km2 (808,190 sq mi) |
| • Land | 1,836,993.78 km2 (709,267.26 sq mi) |
| • Water | 160,930 km2 (62,140 sq mi) 7.7% |
| • Rank | 1st |
| 21% of Canada | |
| Population (2021) | |
• Total | 36,858 |
• Estimate (Q4 2025) | 41,919 |
| • Rank | 13th |
| • Density | 0.02/km2 (0.052/sq mi) |
| Demonym(s) | Nunavummiut Nunavummiuq (sing.) |
| Official languages | Inuit (Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun) English French |
| GDP | |
| • Rank | 11th |
| • Total (2024) | C$5.668 billion |
| • Per capita | C$136,875 (1st) |
| HDI | |
| • HDI (2021) | 0.930 – Very high (4th) |
| Time zones | UTC−07:00 (MST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−06:00 (MDT) |
| UTC−06:00 (CST) | |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−05:00 (CDT) |
| Southampton Island (Coral Harbour) | UTC−05:00 (EST) |
| UTC−04:00 (Eastern Time) | |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−04:00 (EDT) |
| Canadian postal abbr. | NU |
| Postal code prefix | |
| ISO 3166 code | CA-NU |
| Flower | Purple saxifrage |
| Tree | n/a |
| Bird | Rock ptarmigan |
| Website | gov.nu.ca |
| Rankings include all provinces and territories | |
Nunavut is the largest and northernmost territory of Canada. It was separated from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, which provided this territory to the Inuit for self-government. The boundaries had been drawn in 1993. The creation of Nunavut resulted in the first major change to Canada's political map in half a century since the province of Newfoundland (now Newfoundland and Labrador) was admitted in 1949.
Nunavut comprises a major portion of Northern Canada and most of the Arctic Archipelago. Its vast territory makes it the fifth-largest country subdivision in the world, as well as North America's second-largest (after Greenland). Nunavut's capital and Canada's smallest capital by population, Iqaluit (formerly "Frobisher Bay"), on Baffin Island in the east, was chosen by a capital plebiscite in 1995. Other major communities include the regional centres of Rankin Inlet and Cambridge Bay.
Nunavut includes Ellesmere Island in the far north, the eastern and southern portions of Victoria Island in the west, and all islands in Hudson Bay, James Bay and Ungava Bay, including the western portion of Killiniq Island in the southeast and Akimiski Island far to the south of the rest of the territory. Nunavut is Canada's only geopolitical region that is not connected to the rest of North America via the Pan-American Highway.
Nunavut is the least densely populated major country sub-division in the world (not considering Antarctica), being even less densely populated than Denmark's Greenland. With a population of 36,858 as of the 2021 Canadian census (up from 35,944 in 2016) consisting mostly of Inuit, and a land mass almost as large as Mexico, Nunavut's land area of 1,836,993.78 square kilometres (709,267.26 sq mi) has a population density of 0.022/km2 (0.056/sq mi).
Nunavut is also home to the world's northernmost continuously inhabited place, Alert. Eureka, a weather station on Ellesmere Island, has the lowest average annual temperature of any Canadian weather station.