An annual report shows that many southeast Saskatchewan communities experienced slight declines in their populations last year.
The Covered Population Report was posted to the eHealth Saskatchewan website recently. It tracks the number of people carrying a Saskatchewan Health Card, as of June 30, 2018.
While the province abandoned the old health region system in favour of a single province-wide health authority in 2017, communities were still listed by health region for the report, with southeast Saskatchewan communities .
As one would expect, the city of Estevan was the largest community in the southeast at 12,612 people, down about 600 from the 13,222 who resided in the Energy City a year earlier. Weyburn was the second-largest at 12,033 residents, down from 12,342.
And the rural municipality (RM) of Estevan was the largest RM in the region at 699 people, up from 679 the previous year. (For more on the findings for the city and RM of Estevan, please visit www.estevanmercury.ca).
The report showed that Carlyle was the third-largest community in the region at 2,718 residents, down from 2,781 the previous year.
Oxbow was fourth at 1,634, a decline from 1,662, followed by Carnduff at 1,393 people, down from 1,424, and Redvers was at 1,369, compared to 1,404 in 2017.
Bienfait’s population stood at 1,015 residents, compared to 1,081 the previous year; Stoughton was at 999, compared to 1,015 in 2017; and Lampman stood at 930, down from 979.
Among other towns and villages, Midale had 825 people, Arcola 719, Alameda 529, Manor 434, Kenosee Lake 400, Carievale 382, Macoun 373, Gainsborough 340, Kisbey 315, Torquay 314, Alida 228, Frobisher 221, Glen Ewen 212, Storthoaks 184, North Portal 139, Benson 127, Bellegarde 80, Forget 55, Tribune 54, Oungre 50, Wauchope 46 and Bromhead 14.
Among the rural municipalities, the RM of Antler had 149 residents, the RM of Argyle 126, RM of Benson 177, RM of Brock 246, RM of Browning 220, RM of Cambria 176, RM of Coalfields 221, RM of Cymri 221, RM of Enniskillen 212, RM of Moose Creek 176, RM of Moose Mountain 257, RM of Mount Pleasant 204, RM of Reciprocity 179, RM of Souris Valley 182, RM of Storthoaks 108 and RM of Tecumseh 224.
The Covered Population Report is not a census, but it has been cited by the city of Estevan in the past because they believed it gave a better indication of the number of people actually in the community, including those in Estevan for work-related purposes. It’s also compiled on an annual basis, and not once every five years like the census.
While the numbers for urban municipalities tend to be higher than the census, the population totals for rural municipalities tend to be much lower.
In addition to the overall population for a community, the report looks at the number of people in each community by gender and by age.
