Demographics of Saskatchewan


is the middle province of Canada's three Prairie Provinces. It has an area of 651,900 km² and a population of 1,117,503 as of January 2014. Most of its population lives in the southern half of the province. The most populous city is Saskatoon with a population of 260,600 in the Census Metropolitan Area, followed by the province's capital, Regina with a population of 210,556 in the CMA. The province's population makeup is also notable for German being the largest European ethnic group and also for the largest proportion of people of indigenous descent of any of the provinces.

Population since 1901

YearPopulationFive-year
% change		Ten-year
% change		Rank among
provinces
190191,279n/an/a8
1911492,432n/a439.53
1921757,510n/a53.83
1931921,785n/a21.73
1941895,992n/a-2.83
1951831,728n/a-7.25
1956880,6655.9n/a5
1961925,1815.111.25
1966955,3443.38.56
1971926,242-3.00.16
1976921,325-0.53.66
1981968,3135.14.56
19861,009,6134.39.66
1991988,928-2.02.16
1996976,615-1.2-3.36
2001978,9330.2-1.06
2006985,3860.70.96
20111,053,9607.07.66
20161,098,3526.311.46

Source: Statistics Canada.

Visible minorities and Aboriginals

Ethnic origins

Note: The following statistics include a combination of individual and multiple responses from the 2001 Census, and therefore do not add up to 100%.
Due to the emigration of its non-indigenous peoples' population and the high birthrate of the aboriginal population it is estimated that by 2045 aboriginal people will make up just under a third of the province's population.

Future projections

Languages

Knowledge of languages

The question on knowledge of languages allows for multiple responses. The following figures are from the 2016 Canadian Census, and lists languages that were selected by at least one per cent of respondents.
LanguageResponses%
English1,062,27599.23
French51,3254.79
Tagalog28,6552.68
Cree21,8702.04
German17,3901.62
Ukrainian13,0901.22

Mother tongue

The 2006 census showed a population of 968,157. Of the 946,250 singular responses to the census question concerning mother tongue the languages most commonly reported were:
Language2006%2001%
1.English811,27585.7%817,95585.8%
2.German28,5553.0%32,5153.4%
3.Algonquian languages26,5252.8%23,7352.5%
Cree24,2552.6%22,0552.1%
Ojibway1,7450.2%1,3750.1%
4.Ukrainian16,3501.7%19,6502.1%
5.French16,0601.7%17,7751.9%
6.Chinese7,4750.8%6,0150.6%
Cantonese1,7200.2%1,4250.2%
Mandarin7150.1%395<0.1%
7.Athapaskan languages7,1450.8%6,3150.7%
Dene7,1350.8%6,3100.7%
8.Polish2,5100.4%3,0150.3%
9.Hungarian2,1900.2%2,7000.3%
10.Tagalog 2,1700.2%1,5450.2%
11.Dutch1,7850.2%1,9300.20%
12.Scandinavian languages1,6900.2%2,3200.2%
Norwegian8300.1%1,2600.1%
Danish420<0.1%4300.1%
Swedish355<0.1%5250.1%
13.Arabic1,5250.12%1,0900.11%
14.Russian1,4000.2%1,4400.2%
15.Vietnamese1,3050.1%1,3900.2%
16.Serbo-Croatian languages1,2500.1%1,2350.1%
Croatian4500.1%4350.1%
Bosnian335<0.1%NN
Serbian270<0.1%210<0.1%
Serbo-Croatian195<0.1%5900.1%
17.Greek1,0600.1%9800.1%
18.Panjabi 8500.1%5400.1%
19.Persian7850.1%415<0.1%
20.Romanian7700.1%7750.1%
21.Italian7350.1%8950.1%
22.Korean6750.1%425<0.1%
23.Germanic languages n.i.e.6050.1%375<0.1%
24.Siouan languages 410<0.1%345<0.1%
25.African languages n.i.e.405<0.1%1300.01%
26.Portuguese380<0.1%405<0.1%
27.Finnish365<0.1%435<0.1%
28.Hindi355<0.1%320<0.1%
29.Lao340<0.1%2750.03%
30.Urdu330<0.1%425<0.1%
31=Bantu languages325<0.1%170<0.1%
Swahili105<0.1%110<0.1%
31=Czech325<0.1%415<0.1%
33.Berber310<0.1%185<0.1%
34.Japanese290<0.1%185<0.1%
35.Niger–Congo languages n.i.e.285<0.1%100<0.1%
36.Tigrigna215<0.1%190<0.1%
37=Gujarati210<0.1%2250.02%
37=Slovak210<0.1%100<0.1%
37=Somali210<0.1%35~
40.Bengali190<0.1%70<0.1%

Note: "n.i.e.": not included elsewhere
There were also 175 single-language responses for Non-verbal languages ; 170 for Amharic; 155 for Turkish; 140 for Sinhala; 135 for Slavic languages n.i.e.; 130 for Slovenian; 120 for Pashto; 115 for Malay; 115 for Malayalam; 115 for Thai; 110 for Ilocano; 110 for Khmer; 100 for Celtic languages; and 100 for Sino-Tibetan languages n.i.e. In addition there were also 6,080 responses of both English and a non-official language; 245 of both French and a non-official language; 1,130 of both English and French; and 140 of English, French and a non-official language. Figures shown are for the number of single language responses and the percentage of total single-language responses.

Migration

Immigration

The 2016 Canadian census counted a total of 112,490 immigrants living in Saskatchewan, 47,935 of whom arrived in the previous 5 years.
The most commonly reported countries of birth for all immigrants living in Saskatchewan were:
1.Philippines26,865
2.India9,630
3.China7,485
4.United Kingdom7,020
5.Pakistan6,860
6.United States4,845
7.Ukraine3,280
8.Vietnam2,620
=9.Germany2,575
=9.Bangladesh2,575
11.South Africa1,775
12.Nigeria1,695
13.Poland1,390
14.Mexico1,330
15.Netherlands1,220
16.Iraq1,175
17.Syria1,155
18.South Korea1,125
19.Ireland840
20.Jamaica815

There were also about 800 immigrants from Russia; 785 from Iran; 770 from Hong Kong; 695 from Romania; 635 from Ethiopia and Somalia; 630 from El Salvador; 605 from Greece; 595 from Eritrea; 585 from Serbia; 570 from Italy; 560 from Myanmar; and 555 from Colombia;

Internal migration

Interprovincial migration has long been a demographic challenge for Saskatchewan, and it was often said that "Saskatchewan's most valuable export its young people". The trend reversed in 2006 as the nascent oil fracking industry started growing in the province, but returned to negative net migration starting in 2013. Most people migrating from Saskatchewan move west to Alberta or British Columbia.
In-migrantsOut-migrantsNet migration
2008–0918,12715,1442,983
2009–1017,23715,0842,153
2010–1116,60216,057545
2011–1219,38617,5081,878
2012–1316,98216,590392
2013–1416,37118,210−1,839
2014–1515,34619,874−4,528
2015–1615,26019,532−4,272
2016–1713,13018,890−5,760
2017–1811,63720,112−8,475
2018–1911,63723,607−9,688

Source: Statistics Canada

Religion

According to the Canada 2001 Census, the most practiced religions in the province were:
With increase immigration from highly religious countries such as the Philippines, the Christian population continues to rise, particularly the Catholic denomination, as well as small amounts of Protestants.
151,455 people declared themselves as without religion.