This country’s population is growing faster than any other country in the world. And Saskatchewan is almost keeping pace with that expansion.
StatsCan has just updated its quarterly population estimate and we added another 9,000 residents in the three months that ended in June. That represents a 2.6% growth rate, one of seven provinces to see unprecedented increases. And it was just a smidge behind the national growth rate of 2.9%.
In other words, at 1,209,000 our proportionate share of the total Canadian population is declining along with Quebec and Newfoundland. Even the Maritimes are pulling ahead of us.
Alberta, though, is setting the standard in the country with the fastest growing population of any province as the Westward shift remains very noticeable. BC and Manitoba are also growing faster than the national average.
International immigration is the driving factor in our growth. It represents 98% of the expansion while births look after the remaining two percent nationally. Here in Saskatchewan each day produces about 10 more birth notices than obituaries.
