The Qikiqtaaluk Region (Inuktitut: ᕿᑭᖅᑖᓗᒃ, pronounced [qikiqtaːˈluk]), Qikiqtani Region or Baffin Region is the easternmost, northernmost, and southernmost administrative region of Nunavut, Canada. Qikiqtaaluk is the traditional Inuktitut name for Baffin Island. Although the Qikiqtaaluk Region is the most commonly used name in official contexts, several notable public organizations, including Statistics Canada prior to the 2021 Canadian census, use the older term Baffin Region.
With a population of 19,355 and an area of 970,554.61 km2 (374,733.23 sq mi), slightly smaller than Egypt, it is the largest and most populated of the three regions. It is also the largest second-level administrative division in the world.
The region consists of Baffin Island, the Belcher Islands, Akimiski Island, Mansel Island, Prince Charles Island, Bylot Island, Devon Island, Baillie-Hamilton Island, Cornwallis Island, Bathurst Island, Amund Ringnes Island, Ellef Ringnes Island, Axel Heiberg Island, Ellesmere Island, the Melville Peninsula, the eastern part of Melville Island, and the northern parts of both Prince of Wales Island and Somerset Island, plus smaller islands in between. The regional centre, and territorial capital, is Iqaluit (population 7,429). The Qikiqtaaluk Region spans the northernmost, easternmost, and southernmost areas of Nunavut.
Before 1999, the Qikiqtaaluk Region existed under slightly different boundaries in the Northwest Territories as the Baffin Region, in the northern part of the District of Keewatin.
The western half of the nearby Hans Island is part of the Qikiqtaaluk, while the eastern half is part of Greenland and is in the municipality of Avannaata.
Communities
All of Qikiqtaaluk's thirteen communities are located on tidal water and just under half of its residents live in Nunavut's capital and only city, Iqaluit (7,429.). The majority of the rest live in twelve hamlets—Arctic Bay (994), Kinngait (1,396), Clyde River (1,181), Grise Fiord (144), Sanirajak (891), Igloolik (2,049), Kimmirut (426), Pangnirtung (1,504), Pond Inlet (1,555), Qikiqtarjuaq (593), Resolute (183) and Sanikiluaq (1,010). Alert (CFS Alert) and Eureka are part of Qikiqtaaluk, Unorganized (permanent population 0) areas in the Qikiqtaaluk.
