Yukon's population up 21% from a decade ago, and still growing steadily

Yukon's population continues to growsteadilyand the pandemic does not appear to be having a significantimpact on that, according to new estimatesfrom the Yukon Bureau of Statistics.

The territory's estimated population as of Septemberwas a record-high 42,507. That represents a 2.3 per cent increase over the previous year a slightly higher rate of growth than the 2.1 per cent annual average over the last decade.

Overall, the territory's population has gone up about 21.4 per centsince 2010.

"Jobs,basically, is the biggest factor there. We've had the lowest unemployment rate in the country for the last five years, pretty much straight through. There's been a lot of money around," saidGary Brown, senior information officer at theYukon Bureau of Statistics.

"The public sector's always bigup here, all four levels. And the otherrecent one is mining has picked back up again."

Brown says the new estimates, released Tuesday, are largely based on "administrative data sources" from the territorial government.

"So,health-care file, driver's licence, motor vehicle registrations, things like that," he said.

Whitehorse home to the vast majority of Yukoners saw its population go up by about 23.5 per cent since 2010to 33,285, according to the data.The territory's second-biggest community of Dawson Citysaw its population grow by about 18.5 per cent over the same period, to 2,269.

However, the next-biggest community Watson Lake has gotten smaller over the last decade. Its population stands at 1,510, adrop of about 2.3 per cent between 2010 and 2020.

Brown says immigration continues to accountfor some of Yukon's growing population. Between July and September 2020, 110 immigrants settled in Yukon, most of them as non-permanent residents.

He also says the data does not suggest that Canadians have startedmoving North en massein response to the pandemic. Interprovincial migration to Yukon has been steady, he says.

"There was a lot of talk about it from the realtors, saying that a lot of people had been calling about moving to the Yukon. We really haven't seen that," Brown said.

"The interprovincial migration is fairly flat for July through September. So a lot of the increase is due to something other than COVID[-19]."