Know
Your Region: The People
This
section has the most basic of the statistics about the people
living in the Southwest region, namely how many there are, where
they live, how old they are, whether the number is increasing
or decreasing, and why.
The
findings in this section are summarized below in point form.
General
Population
• The population is declining in most parts of rural Saskatchewan
as it is in much of the developed world. The Southwest is no
exception – the population has, over the long term, been
declining in the rural parts of the region. In the twenty-five
years ending in 2006, for example, the population has dropped
by an average of 1.0% per year. In the most recent five years,
the rate of decline has been a bit higher, at 1.2% per year.
• The population in and near Swift Current has been effectively
stable over the twenty-five years whereas the population outside
the city dropped by a quarter.
• In spite of the general decline of the population in
the region, the drop has not been universal. In six of the rural
municipalities (including the communities within them), the
population has grown from 2001 to 2006. Five of the six are
rural.
• The “covered population” measured by Saskatchewan
Health is slightly higher than the population measured by Statistics
Canada’s census but the trend over time is similar.
Age and Gender
• The gradual aging of the population when combined with
intraprovincial and interprovincial migration has led to a “hollowing
out” of the population in the Southwest. In 2006, 20%
of the population was in the 20 to 39 age group compared with
24% for the province as a whole.
• The fastest growing age group in the past ten years
has been those 45 to 59 years of age as the “baby boomers”
continue to age. Over the next ten years, the fastest growing
population group will be among those 55 to 69 years of age for
the same reason.
• The age groups with the largest declines in the past
ten years are two related groups namely, those in their thirties
and their children.
• Women slightly outnumber men in the Southwest as they
do in the province as a whole.
Mobility
and Migration
• The population decline in the last ten to twenty years
was caused by a net loss from interprovincial migration compounded
by a drop in the natural growth rate and a slow but steady trickle
of people moving to other parts of Saskatchewan.
• From 2001 to 2006, one quarter of the residents in the
Southwest moved. Compared with other rural parts of Saskatchewan,
the region is more likely to be a destination for interprovincial
migrants and less likely to be a destination for intraprovincial
migrants.
more
on...The People pdf.
