Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

is the middle province of Canada's three

Prairie provinces The Canadian Prairies (usually referred to as simply the Prairies in Canada) is a region in Western Canada. It includes the Canadian portion of the Great Plains and the Prairie provinces, namely Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. These provin ...

. It has an area of 651,900 km² (251,700 mi²) and a population of 1,132,505 (''Saskatchewanians'') as of 2021. Saskatchewan's population is made of 50.3% women and 49.7% men. Most of its population lives in the Southern half of the province. The most populous city is

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

, with a population of 317,480 (2021) in the Census Metropolitan Area (CMA), followed by the province's capital, Regina, with a population of 249,217 (2021) in the CMA. The province's population makeup is also notable for

German Canadians German Canadians ( or , ) are Canadians, Canadian citizens of Germans, German ancestry or Germans who emigrated to and reside in Canada. According to the 2016 Canadian census, 2016 census, there are 3,322,405 Canadians with full or partial Germ ...

being the largest European ethnic group and for the second-largest proportion of people of indigenous descent of any of the provinces, after Manitoba.

Population history

† 1901 population for

District of Saskatchewan The District of Saskatchewan was a regional administrative district of Canada's North-West Territories. Formed in 1882, it was later enlarged then abolished with the creation of the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta in 1905. Much of the are ...

and

District of Athabasca The District of Athabasca was a regional administrative district of Canada's Northwest Territories. It was formed in 1882, was later enlarged, and then abolished with the creation of the provinces of Saskatchewan (its central-eastern part) and A ...

, parts of the then-named

North-West Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of the three territories in Northern Canada. Its estimated pop ...

. ''Source:

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...

.''The history of Saskatchewan's population
from

Ethnic origins

Future projections

Visible minorities and Indigenous peoples

Languages

Knowledge of languages

The question on knowledge of languages allows for multiple responses. The following figures are from the

2021 Canadian Census The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canada, Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, whic ...

and the

2016 Canadian Census The 2016 Canadian census was an enumeration of Canadian residents, which counted a population of 35,151,728, a change from its 2011 population of 33,476,688. The census, conducted by Statistics Canada, was Canada's seventh quinquennial census. ...

, and lists languages that were selected by at least one per cent of respondents.

Mother tongue

The 2006 census showed a population of 968,157. Of the 946,250 singular responses to the census question concerning

mother tongue A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongue'' refers ...

the languages most commonly reported were: Note: "n.i.e.": not included elsewhere There were also 175 single-language responses for Non-verbal languages (Sign languages); 170 for

Amharic Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...

; 155 for Turkish; 140 for Sinhala; 135 for Slavic languages n.i.e.; 130 for Slovenian; 120 for

Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...

; 115 for Malay; 115 for

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

; 115 for Thai; 110 for Ilocano; 110 for Khmer; 100 for

Celtic languages The Celtic languages ( ) are a branch of the Indo-European language family, descended from the hypothetical Proto-Celtic language. The term "Celtic" was first used to describe this language group by Edward Lhuyd in 1707, following Paul-Yve ...

; 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.

Religion

Migration

Immigration

The 2021 census reported that

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

(individuals born outside Canada) comprise 137,615 persons or 12.5 percent of the total population of Saskatchewan.

Recent immigration

The

2021 Canadian census The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canada, Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, whic ...

counted a total of 43,120 people who immigrated to Saskatchewan between 2016 and 2021.

Interprovincial migration

Interprovincial migration has long been a demographic challenge for Saskatchewan, and it was often said that "Saskatchewan's most valuable export asits young people". The trend reversed in 2006 as the nascent oil

fracking Fracking (also known as hydraulic fracturing, fracing, hydrofracturing, or hydrofracking) is a well stimulation technique involving the fracturing of formations in bedrock by a pressurized liquid. The process involves the high-pressure inje ...

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. ''Source: Statistics Canada''

Notes

References

{{People of Canada

Saskatchewan society