The city of Portage la Prairie and Rural Municipality of Portage la Prairie both saw slight growth in population over the past five years, Statistics Canada 2016 census data reveals.

The city's population increased 2.4 per cent — 308 people — from 12,996 in 2011 to 13,304 in 2016.

“It's a vote of confidence in the community as a whole,” says Portage la Prairie Mayor Irvine Ferris. “People are choosing to move here, remain here and return here.”

“These latest stats from the census are encouraging. There are some reasons to believe we should be able to do even better in the next census period,” continues Ferris. “If you want to increase your population, you have to grow jobs, which we are doing.”

The RM of Portage la Prairie's population increased 6.9 per cent from 6,525 in 2011 to 6,975 in 2016. That ranks 10th among rural municipalities, and 19th among all municipalities in Manitoba. RM Reeve Kam Blight was not yet available for comment.

According to census data, Portage is the fifth largest city in Manitoba, trailing Winnipeg, Brandon, Steinbach and Thompson. Among all municipalities in the province, the city of Portage ranks seventh in total population — Winnipeg, Brandon, Steinbach, RM of Hanover, RM of Springfield and Thompson make up No. 1-6. In Canada, Portage ranks No. 309 among municipalities for total population, 0.04 per cent of the country's 35,151,728 people.

Portage's 2.4 per cent growth rate lagged behind the national average of 5.0 per cent and ranked ninth among cities in Manitoba. Winkler posted the highest growth rate among cities in the province from 2011 to 2016 at 18 per cent — slightly ahead of Steinbach's 17 per cent increase. Among all municipalities in Manitoba, the RM of Victoria led in growth rate at 35.3 per cent. Its population increased from 1,119 in 2011 to 1,514 in 2016.