Northwest Territories

The Northwest Territories is a territory in Northern Canada. 45,074 people live there as of 2025.^[5] It is 1,171,918 square kilometers.

Northwest Territories Territoires du Nord-Ouest  (French)[1] Denendeh  (Athapascan languages) Nunatsiaq  (Inuinnaqtun) ᓄᓇᑦᓯᐊᖅ  (Inuktitut)
Territory
Flag Coat of arms
BC AB SK MB ON QC NB PE NS NL YT NT NU
Coordinates: 67°N 121°W[2]
Country	Canada
Confederation	July 15, 1870[a] (5th, with Manitoba)
Capital	Yellowknife
Largest city	Yellowknife
Largest metro	Yellowknife
Government
• Type	Parliamentary system, with consensus government
• Commissioner	Gerald Kisoun
• Premier	R. J. Simpson (consensus government)
Legislature	Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories
Federal representation	Parliament of Canada
House seats	1 of 338 (0.3%)
Senate seats	1 of 105 (1%)
Area [3]
• Total	1,346,106 km2 (519,734 sq mi)
• Land	1,183,085 km2 (456,792 sq mi)
• Water	163,021 km2 (62,943 sq mi)  12.1%
• Rank	Ranked 3rd
	13.5% of Canada
Population  (2021)
• Total	41,070[4]
• Estimate  (2025 Q1)	45,074[5]
• Rank	Ranked 11th
• Density	0.03/km2 (0.08/sq mi)
Demonyms	Northwest Territorian[6] FR: Franco-Ténois(e)
Official languages	Chipewyan Cree English French Gwich’in Inuinnaqtun Inuktitut Inuvialuktun North Slavey South Slavey Tłı̨chǫ [7][8]
GDP
• Rank	11th
• Total (2017)	C$4.856 billion[9]
• Per capita	C$108,065 (1st)
HDI
• HDI (2021)	0.930[10]—Very high (4th)
Time zone	UTC−07:00
• Summer (DST)	UTC−06:00
Postal abbr.	NT
Postal code prefix	X0, X1 (Yellowknife)
ISO 3166 code	CA-NT
Flower	Mountain avens
Tree	Tamarack larch
Bird	Gyrfalcon
Rankings include all provinces and territories

The capital of the Northwest Territories is Yellowknife. Yellowknife was the capital since 1967. The Northwest Territories have many geographical features, like the Great Bear Lake, the Mackenzie River and Nahanni River, which is a national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Northwest Territories entered the Canadian Confederation in 1870. The Hudson's Bay Company gave the land to the Dominion of Canada. The Northwest Territories have one person in the House of Commons and the Canadian Senate. A lot of parts of the Northwest Territories were given to other provinces, including British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec. In 1999, the eastern part of the Northwest Territories became the territory of Nunavut.