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Census shows Yorkton population getting younger on average

More children the result of job creation, mayor says
census 2016

Yorkton is getting younger according to the most recent numbers from Statistics Canada.

Last week StatCan released data on the age and sex of Canadians as well as what kinds of dwellings we live in.

In 2016, there was a higher percentage of people under the age of 15 and lower percentage over the age of 65 in Yorkton compared to 2011.

Children 0-14 now make up 18.1 per cent of the population compared to 17.2 per cent five years ago while those in the 65-plus range are down to 20.6 per cent from 21.4 per cent.

The large cohort of 15- to 64-year-olds remained relatively unchanged at 61.2 per cent compared to 61.5 per cent following the previous census.

This bucks a national trend that saw, for the first time in history, seniors outnumber children in the Canadian population.

Saskatchewan has the largest cohort of children overall among the provinces at 19.6 per cent. Nova Scotia and New Brunwick tied for having the largest share of elderly people at 19.9 per cent.

In terms of actual numbers, there were almost 300 more children in Yorkton in 2016 than in 2011.

Mayor Bob Maloney attributes the numbers to economic activity.

“The younger people is all about jobs being created,” the mayor said.

He expects that trend to continue, he said, noting the recent announcement of a medical marijuana facility, the expansion of Grain Millers, new large retailers at the Parkland Mall and the opening of the K3 mine at Esterhazy.

While the share of the population of Yorkton has shifted toward younger, the overall percentage of seniors here is still considerably greater than the Saskatchewan and national averages, 20.6 per cent compared to 15.5 per cent and 16.9 per cent respectively.

Maloney thinks that also bodes well for the city.

“It’s an interesting demographic,” he said. “A lot of people are retiring and bringing money to the city.”

The mayor noted that is one of the drivers of real estate sales, particularly in the condominium segment.

That may be true, but only in the context of overall housing activity which was up across the board between 2011 and 2016.

The preferred dwelling arrangement for Yorktonites is still the single detached house, which accounts for 74.1 per cent of the population. That is the highest in Saskatchewan and fully 20 per cent higher than the national average.

The next largest group, 16.7 per cent live in apartments in buildings of less than five storeys. An interesting side note is that Yorkton is the only city in Saskatchewan that does not have apartment buildings of five storeys or more.

The remaining nine per cent of the Yorkton population lives in row houses (2.7 per cent), semi-detached houses (3.0 per cent), apartments in a duplex (0.7 per cent), other single attached houses  (0.1 per cent), and movable dwellings (2.4 per cent.)