Saskatchewan’s population dropped by 750 in the third quarter of this year, the first time we’ve seen a population decline in months.
The latest quarterly population figures for the country show the impact of federal rules reducing the number of non-permanent residents. Saskatchewan’s decline represented one-percent of the overall national population reduction which is about a third of what it should be on a per capita basis.
Ontario recorded the largest decline followed by BC and then Manitoba. The only province that was still showing population growth in that quarter was Alberta.
In Saskatchewan, the number of non-permanent residents fell by 3,000 for the quarter to a level 4,000 lower than a year earlier with foreign student numbers dropping by a couple thousand, one of the reasons post-secondary schools have been feeling the pinch of tuition declines.
The non-permanent head count is five-times the total decrease in our population in the 3rdquarter suggesting the remaining elements of our population continue to grow but we did once again see inter-provincial out-migration ramp up for the first time in 2025.
