SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - For the first time in a year, the NWT's population is showing signs of growth.

From April 1 to July 1 this year, the territory recorded an increase of 90 people.

The population had been declining over the past two years and recorded two consecutive quarters of decline this year - until now.

The recently revised 2008 numbers for the NWT record 43,720 people living in the territory in July 2008.

This July there were 43,439 - a decrease of 281 people, according to the NWT Bureau of Statistics. The NWT was the only province or territory to record a loss during this time.

It's too early to know whether the latest figures indicate the population is rebounding, said Vishni Peeris, territorial statistician with the NWT Bureau of Statistics.

"That's difficult to say at this stage of the game," she said. "It's nothing that you can tell right off the bat here."

An increase of 90 people is not necessarily significant, she said.

"Since 2004 we've had population increases as low as 18 and decreases as high as 209 in a quarter," she said. "It just depends on the situation."

"For the Northwest Territories the situation varies from year to year," said Hubert Denis, an analyst with Statistics Canada.

Territorial figures appear to fluctuate more dramatically than those from the provinces, he said, because the NWT population is so much smaller.

"We have to wait a couple of quarters in a row to say 'OK, there's something of a trend here,'" said Denis.

The changes come down to people moving to other parts of Canada, he said. Birth and death rates are keeping steady, as is international movement in and out.

Most population losses in the NWT usually go to and from Alberta, according to Dan Westman, manager of economic planning with the GNWT. But lately more people are moving to Saskatchewan's booming economy or back home to Newfoundland, which is also seeing better times.

From 2007 to 2008, Yellowknife lost 483 people, according to the NWT stats.

Migration is mostly to and from Yellowknife, and to a lesser extent in and out of regional centres like Hay River and Fort Smith, according to Peeris.

Leon Johnson, corporate and international sales manager for Matco Transportation Systems, said the company, which moves people in and out of the territory from around the world, hasn't noticed a shift in the movement of people.

"I know with the economic downturn there's been less economic activity overall," said Johnson, "but we're finding a fairly even balance, in and out."The NWT's population is always fluctuating, he said.

"It's a very mobile workforce, no doubt about that," said Johnson. "It's transient, people will come in, work for the summer then get the hell out before the snow flies."

Westman said that, looking at the economic factors, he expects that the population will begin a trend of growth again.

"We've got one of the most favourable long-term outlooks in the country," he said.