The population of Kipling and many surrounding communities and rural municipalities have remained fairly steady over the last year according to the latest covered health population figures that were recently released by Saskatchewan Health.
The covered health population is a count of everyone who held Saskatchewan health coverage on June 30. The report does not include people who have moved into the province but have not yet met the residency requirement of three months or people who moved out of province but remain eligible for coverage for the same period. It also does not include members of the Canadian Armed Forces, members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and inmates of federal prisons, all of whom are covered by the federal government.
Numbers from the covered health figures can also be skewed as farm or First Nation residents who list a box number instead of a land location will be included in the totals of the community where their post office box is located. It does however provide a snapshot of trends from year to year.
According to the figures, Kipling saw a slight growth over last year with six new residents after growing by 25 people last year. Over the last five years, the town has seen it’s populations figures go up and down with a high of 1,355 in 2020 and a low of 1,312 in 2020. Compared to 2019, the town is down by five people and currently sits at 1,343.
Windthorst also saw growth over last year with nine new residents registered in the community to bring the population up to 281. Kennedy stayed unchanged at 335 while Langbank lost two residents and now sits at 109.
No rural municipalities lost any people over the last year with the RM of Hazelwood increasing its population by nine people to `30 while the RM of Kingsley went up by just one person to 220. The RM of Chester remained unchanged and still sits with a population of 199.
To the north, Whitewood saw the biggest change over last year with the community going from losing 63 people in 2022 to gaining 56 this year, a 3.6 per cent growth. Over the last five years, Whitewood’s population is up 22 residents.
Broadview also saw growth over the last number of years with the community increasing by 13 people this year, on top of the jump of 32 people last year. Since 2019, the town has 60 new residents.
Grenfell continues it’s downward trend, with the community seeing a decline of 14 people over the previous year, a year which saw a drop of four people. Compared to five-years ago, the population of Grenfell according to health records is down 71 residents.
For the first time in years, the RM’s of Elcapo, Silverwood, Willowdale and Wolseley all saw growth over the last year, gaining a combined 18 new residents. The RM of Elcapo saw 10 new people with the RM’s of Wolseley, Silverwood and Willowdale gaining four, three and one new resident respectively.
Compared to 10 years ago (2013), the population of the area has seen an overall growth of 3.8 per cent with 584 new people. Communities to see growth compared to 2013 are Moosomin (237), Indian Head (257), Kipling (81), Broadview (49), Whitewood (22), Wapella (17), Indian Head (1), the RM of Wolseley (53), RM of Elcapo (48), RM of Willowdale (30), RM of Chester (52) and RM of Kingsley (23). Kennedy remains even compared to 2013.
Towns to see declines since 2013 are Grenfell (146), Wolseley (54), Langbank (35) and Windthorst (27). RM’s to see a population decline compared to 2013 were the RM of Indian Head (17) and the RM of Hazelwood (7).
