The Covered Population Report is produced every year by the Ministry of Health. It contains detailed information about demographics and population of Saskatchewan. The report includes a detailed breakdown of the population in Saskatchewan eligible for provincial health insurance benefits. The data is broken down by health regions, municipalities, age groups and sex.

Inclusion in the report is based on eligibility for provincial health insurance benefits in Saskatchewan. All residents of Saskatchewan are included except: (a) members of the Canadian Armed Forces, members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and inmates of federal prisons, all of whom are covered by the federal government; and (b) people not yet meeting the residency requirement (coverage begins on the first day of the third calendar month following their move to Saskatchewan).

The 2011 Covered Population uses the Personal Health Registration System (PHRS) as the data source. The PHRS is a new system that uses mailing address as the primary source for location, unless the Ministry is notified otherwise.

For more information on this, see the "Notice to Readers and Methodology" on the website.

The covered population of Saskatchewan as of June 30, 2011 is 1,084,126. That is the highest recorded in the provincial history.

The covered population increased by 13,649 registrants from the June 30, 2010 total of 1,070,477.

The main use of the population information in the Covered Population Report is for analyzing the usage of Ministry of Health programs since everyone with coverage could potentially be a recipient of various programs.

The information is freely available on the government website. People, organizations, businesses and levels of government also use the information in a variety of ways.

For example, the Covered Population Report has been used by:

• health regions for many of their research projects;
• municipalities for purposes such as determining ward boundaries; and
• businesses for planning and forecasting purposes.

Many external users find the report useful due to the frequency the data is released, especially when having current data is important.

No. The Covered Population Report does not contain any personal or identifying information.

Different methodologies are used. The Covered Population Report is not a census, nor is it intended to be one. The Covered Population Report includes everyone who has valid health coverage in Saskatchewan, including people who may not be in the province (e.g.: students attending university out of province, people working temporarily outside of the province). It also doesn't include other residents in the province, like federal prisoners, RCMP officers and members of the Canadian Armed Forces.

The Census is taken every five years, and population figures released in between are labeled estimates.

The population numbers in the Covered Population Report and the census often differ by a significant amount. In 2011, the variance is more than 26,000.

Through the renewal process, the provincial health registry is updated and persons who ceased to be eligible for Saskatchewan health coverage (i.e. because they have moved out of province) are removed from the list of beneficiaries.

Health card renewal took place in 2011, so the 2012 Covered Population Report (to be released in late 2012) will reflect that data.

An error in Covered Population Report 2010 led to the some residents being incorrectly allocated into some urban centres, which incorrectly increased their 2010 population. This error was most evident in the population of the city of Saskatoon where approximately 20,000 people were allocated in error.

Other centres in the province were also allocated larger populations in 2010 to lesser degrees. The issue affected only the allocations within the province and not the 2010 provincial total. There was no double-counting.

The issue has been fixed for the Covered Population Report 2011, but it is not possible to retroactively change the 2010 numbers.

Therefore, caution should be exercised when comparing numbers between 2011 and 2010, as it could lead to incorrect conclusions about population changes (gains or losses) in Saskatchewan communities.

With any method of data collection on a provincial population, there is always going to be some limitations.

The total population count is accurate, the region counts are accurate and there is no double-counting. However, some people are counted where they receive their mail and not where they actually live. In order to count them where they live, they need to inform the Ministry of Health.

There are three possible address types possible on the system are:

1. Cor/Res - when residence and correspondence address are the same. Example: a resident of Regina that receives mail in a mailbox at their front door.
2. Residence address - when the residence address and correspondence address are different. Example: a resident lives on a farm but collects mail in a nearby town AND informs the Ministry of Health of this.
3. Correspondence address - when only the correspondence address is provided. Example: a resident lives on a farm and collects mail in a nearby town and DOES NOT inform the Ministry of Health.

If a person resides in a rural municipality, picks up their mail in a village, town or city, and only provides the Ministry of Health with a correspondence address, that person will be assigned the residence code for the village, town, or city, rather than for the rural municipality.

You can update your health card information online at www.expressaddress.com or by calling 1-800-667-7551 in Saskatchewan or (306) 787-3251 outside of Saskatchewan.