Saskatchewan population reaches new all-time high

Saskatchewan's population grew by another 17,396 people in 2014.

That's like adding another city the size of Yorkton, Sask. — and then some.

It brings the latest total to 1,132,640 — a new all-time high — according to figures released today by Statistics Canada.

The 2014 growth rate was 1.56 per cent, second-highest in Canada, behind only Alberta. It's the eighth year in a row Saskatchewan has grown by more than 1.5 per cent.

"The strongest period of population growth since the early days of our province" Premier Brad Wall said. "It's a big change from a decade ago when so many young people were leaving and our population was declining."

Last year, Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C. were the only provinces to gain more population than they lost through inter-provincial migration. Saskatchewan gained the most people from Ontario (1,651), Manitoba (639) and Quebec (282), although the net interprovincial gain was just 497.

Those numbers pale in comparison to the province's net gain of 11,106 through international migration, and 5,793 through natural increase (births minus deaths).