During this last quarter, Saskatchewan has seen its largest population increase to date.

With nearly 6,500 people moving into the land of living skies, the province has received its biggest dose of new faces since Statistics Canada began offering quarterly population statistics in 1971.

A few of the driving factors behind these big deposits of humanity are the war in Ukraine and the job availability here in the prairies.

Speaking on the matter was Trade and Export Development Minister, Jeremy Harrison.

"Saskatchewan's economy is firing on all cylinders and creating thousands of new jobs," Harrison said.  "That's attracting more people than ever to our province."

With Ukrainian refugees coming to Canada due to the untenable situation at home, they have also been coming directly to Saskatchewan. While they are applying mainly through the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET), plenty has been accounted for in the regular statistics, with hundreds having immigrated to the province.

The current total population in Saskatchewan rests around 1,200,000 people. Since the 1950s, Saskatchewan has remained near consistently at 1,000,000 total population. In the last 15 years, driving factors such as the government, education, and economic stability have been considerable factors in people coming to Saskatchewan.

Of the nearly 6,500 people who came into the province, close to 5,400 of them were immigrants from the world abroad. Seventy of those individuals came to the southwest, in Swift Current, Maple Creek, Shaunavon, Leader and Gull Lake. Together, they make up a total of 1.3 per cent of the regional population growth.

"Saskatchewan has plenty of opportunities, welcoming communities and a more affordable cost of living than most other places in Canada," said Harrison.  "A strong economy and a growing population mean a better quality of life for all Saskatchewan people.