KIPLING — According to 2021 census data released last week by Statistics Canada, Saskatchewan’s population is now 1,132,505 — an increase of 3.1 per cent from 1,098,352 in 2016.
Saskatchewan’s population grew in some areas over the past five years, but not in others.
Kipling's population in 2016 was 1,074 and 1,076 in 2021, up by only two.
Kipling’s Mayor Pat Jackson gave her comments regarding the town’s population:
“I am rather surprised that our population went only up by two people. I had thought, with the way housing is actually moving, that we would have had a greater increase than that. That said, in any community where there are many people well past retirement age, we can expect changes. It is gratifying that there was not a decrease in population.”
According to the Kipling & District History Book:
When the 1971 census was tabulated, Kipling had more than doubled in numbers since 1941, but the two RM’s (Hazelwood and Kingsley) had lost over half of their 1941 population. With the 1976 census Kipling reached a population of almost 1000, a statistic that was not to change for the next twenty years. The rural population has continued a steady decline. The 1996 census showed only a few more rural residents than there were in 1901. The total population of the district, in 1996, was less than half of what it had been in 1931, and the majority lived in Kipling.”
“I am hopeful, that with the economic activity that is slated to begin this summer, there will be more coming here,” said Jackson. “We, as a Council, are committed to making our community as vibrant and as welcoming as possible.”
