Estevan鈥檚 population is back on a slight upswing, according to an annual report.
The covered population data posted on eHealth Saskatchewan鈥檚 website indicates that the City of Estevan鈥檚 population stood at 13,307 people as of June 30, 2016. The number is up from 13,205 a year earlier.
Population is based on the number of people carrying Saskatchewan Health cards in a community on June 30 each year. And while it is not a census, it has become a trusted gauge locally for the number of people living in the city.
Mayor Roy Ludwig said he was surprised that Estevan鈥檚 population was on the upswing, since the city has been feeling the sting associated with the lower price of oil.
鈥淓ven though we see things turning around these last two months, and we are very confident they will continue to turn around, it鈥檚 great that our population has actually increased in the last year,鈥� Ludwig said in an interview with the Mercury.
Ludwig said he has seen more confidence in the community, and more activity.
He believes most of the people who left the city during the economic slowdown likely did so in the first 12 months of the downturn, so he understands how Estevan鈥檚 population could enjoy a slight rebound in the last half of 2015 and the first half of 2016.
The mayor said the covered population report has become a popular document with council and city staff over the years because it is tabulated annually, and during the boom years, it did a better job of tracking the number of transient workers in the city.
鈥淲e鈥檝e tended to go with the health card numbers, which seemed more accurate,鈥� said Ludwig. 鈥淪o this is a positive development, and positive growth is always good.鈥�
Ludwig is interested to see how the eHealth Saskatchewan report compares with the findings of the 2016 national census, which is slated to be released on Feb. 8. The last censes in 2011 pegged Estevan鈥檚 population at 11,054, which was viewed as being too low by the council and city administration of the day.
The rural municipality of Estevan, meanwhile, had a population of 697 people as of June 30, 2016, which was a slight decrease from 715 the previous year.
The report also showed there were 60,157 people residing in the Sun Country Health Region, which was a slight increase from 59,685 the previous year.
