Alaska Native Population • Population Facts at a Glance • Discussion of Selected Population Data • Issues and Implications
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CHAPTER 3 Alaska Native Population • Population facts at a glance • Discussion of selected population data • Issues and implications In the 1989 AFN Report on the Status of Alaska Natives: A Call for Action, ISER reported Discussion of Selected Data that the Alaska Native population included approximately 75,000 people. Data from the from the Status of Alaska 2000 census show an increase of the Alaska Natives Report 2004 Native population to 119,241 people. The Alaska Native population is predicted to The following section discusses selected data be 165,000 by the year 2020. What will the on Alaska Native population and is taken from future look like? the Status of Alaska Natives Report 2004 (Natives 2004). The Policy Center’s Project Team identified these data as those that Alaska Native Population provide a good overview of the Alaska Native population. These selected data compare the Facts at a Glance numbers of Alaska Natives to American Indians, The majority of the Alaska Native population and the age, gender, statewide and urban/rural (58%) lives in rural Alaska, and there is a differences among Alaska Natives. This chapter growing urban Alaska Native population also presents additional data on households (42%). Both rural and urban Native populations and where Alaska Natives live. When the are young, living longer, and experiencing a Policy Center presented these data in regional changing household composition. meetings, the Alaska Native Community said it wanted to see these numbers on a 12- • Census 2000 shows a statewide Alaska Native region basis. We have provided that in Chapter population of 119,241 people (19% of the total Seven. state population of 626,932). • 82% of the population living in remote rural areas Alaska Natives and American are Alaska Natives. Indians • Alaska Natives are comparatively young, with a median age of 24 years. State of Alaska: Largest Percentage of • More than 44% of all Natives in Alaska are 19 Native Population years of age or younger. Five states have Native American populations • The Native population is statistically balanced greater than 7% of the total state population. between males and females, 50.2% male, and Of these states, shown in Table 3-1, Native 49.8% female. Americans are a larger percentage of Alaska’s total population than are Native Americans in • 42% of all Alaska Natives live in urban Alaska, and any other state. The actual numbers of Native 58% live in rural areas of the state. There is great geographical mobility among Native people, and Americans in several other states are greater the 2000 Census shows a trend of people moving than the number of Native Americans that live from rural villages to regional centers and urban in Alaska. areas of Alaska. • The life expectancy of the Native population is increasing, and more people now survive to old age than in prior decades. • If the Native population continues to grow at the rates by which it increased during the 1990’s, it is predicted to number 140,000 people in the year 2010 and 165,000 in 2020. 30 Chapter 3: Alaska Native Population Our Choices, Our Future Alaska Native Policy Center Table 3-1: States with Native Americans Greater ethnic groupings and cultural affiliations. The than 7 percent of Population in 2000 major ethnic backgrounds include Athabascan, Aleut/Unangan, Alutiiq/Sugpiaq, Inupiaq, Native American Percent Tlingit, Haida, Tsimpsian, and Yupik. Total Race, Alone or of State State Population Mixed* Population Alaska 626,932 119,241 19.0% Composition of the Alaska Oklahoma 3,450,654 391,949 11.4% Native Population New Mexico 1,819,046 191,475 10.5% The Census defines the “Alaska Native” population as all Native Americans living in South Dakota 754,844 68,281 9.0% Alaska at the time of the Census - whether they are Eskimos/Indians/Aleuts from Alaska Montana 902,195 66,320 7.4% or Lower 48 Indians. Of this total of 119,241 * American Indian and Alaska Native alone or in people in 2000, approximately 11,000 were combination with one or more races. Lower 48 Indians, and about 108,000 were Eskimos/Indians/Aleuts from Alaska. 78% Source: Census 2000 Summary File 2 (SF 2) 100- Percent Data. of the 119,241 were Alaska Eskimos/Indians/ Aleuts of single race; and 13% were Alaska Source: ISER, Status of Alaska Natives Report, 2004, pages 2-5 Eskimos/Indians/Aleuts of mixed race. 5% of the 119,241 were Lower 48 Indians of single race; and 4% were Lower 48 Indians of mixed race.12 Racial Composition of Alaska ISER further concluded that 119,241 is the In Alaska, 19% of the total population are number that should be used as the total Alaska Alaska Natives (by single race or in combination Native population for these reasons: with another race), 12% are Other Races (Black, Asian, Pacific Islander, Hispanic, and other), 1. “The American Indian population in Alaska is a and 69% are White, as illustrated in Figure 3- small share of the total Native American population and its characteristics are not significantly different 1. The Alaska Native population includes many from the Alaska Native. Consequently, including them [in the Alaska Native population] does not materially influence our analysis and conclusions.” and Figure 3-1: Racial Composition of the Alaska Population, 2000 2. Most of the American Indian population in Other Race Alaska is located in urban areas, so the snapshot 73,157 of rural Natives is not influenced by the inclusion of 13 12% American Indians. Native Alone 3. Since Alaska Statehood, the Census has combined or Native and Alaska Eskimos/Indians/Aleuts with Lower 48 Other Race Indians in our state. In order to see population 119,241 trends, the ISER report and this analysis compare 19% five censuses from the past 40 years: 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, and 2000. This is possible only if we use the same uniform definition of “Alaska Natives” that the Census publishes. White Alone 434,534 69% Source: ISER, Status of Alaska Natives Report, 2004, pages 2-6 Our Choices, Our Future Chapter 3: Alaska Native Population 31 www.firstalaskans.org Figure 3-2: Composition of Alaska Native Figure 3-3. Alaska Native and non-Native Population in Alaska, 2000 Population, 1960-2000 American Indian American Single Race Indian Mixed 5,861 Race 5% 5,193 4% 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 Alaska Natives Native 42,522 50,605 69,983 94,600 119,241 Mixed Race Alaskan Native Non-Native 183,645 249,777 331,868 455,443 507,691 16,005 Single Race 13% 92,182 Total 226,167 300,382 401,851 550,043 626,932 Total 119,241 78% % Native 18.8% 16.8% 17.4% 17.2% 19.0% Source: ISER, Status of Alaska Natives Report, 2004, Source: ISER, Status of Alaska Natives Report, 2004, pages 2-3 pages 2-7 In recent years, the Alaska Native population increase to 140,000 by 2010, and to 165,000 has become more mixed by race than in earlier in 2020, Figures 3-4 and 3-5, respectively (see decades. In 2000, only 7.6% of Natives who page 33). were 75 or older were of mixed race; but 22% of Natives less than 20 years of age were As the 2010 projection indicates, the Native of mixed race. Alaska Natives were far less population will see “age bubbles” in the likely to report mixed race (17.7%) than were workforce ages of 20-24 and 45-49; and by Native Americans living in the Lower 48 states 2020, the Alaska Native population would (52.1%).14 have another age bubble of 5 year-olds and younger. The implications of these population Alaska Natives: forecasts are: • Growing numbers of people in the workforce Growing, Young, and Changing age group that will require job creation and placement. Population Trends • Growing numbers of Elders who live longer and The Alaska Native population has grown over who will require home care, health care, and the last 40 years. Figure 3-3 shows that in 1960, other services. the Native population was estimated at 42,522 (18.8% of the population); and in 2000, it • Growing numbers of school-age children that will was estimated at 119,241 people (19% of the need an education system that meets the needs of Alaska Native students.15 population). Even with the large in-migration of non-Natives to Alaska in the last 40 years, the percentage of the Native population has Population by Age Group remained close to 19%. The population growth of Alaska Natives is due in part to annual birth rates (the number Population Projections of births per 1,000 of population, each year), In the Natives 2004 report, ISER provided a which have historically been higher than those population forecast. Based on assumptions of of non-Natives. It also comes from decreasing stable rates of natural increase, ISER predicted annual death rates and the fact that Alaska that the Alaska Native population would Natives are living longer. Alaska Native median 32 Chapter 3: Alaska Native Population Our Choices, Our Future Figure 3-4. Alaska Native Population Forecast 2010 18,000 16,000 14,000 12,000 10,000 8,000 Alaska Native Policy Center 6,000 4,000 2,000 0 0-4 5-9 Source: ISER, Status of Alaska Natives Report, 2004, pages 2-60 10-14 15-19 Figure 3-5. Alaska Native Population Forecast 2020 20-24 18,000 25-29 30-34 16,000 35-39 14,000 40-44 12,000 45-49 10,000 50-54 55-59 8,000 60-64 6,000 65-69 70-74 4,000 75-79 2,000 80-84 85-89 0 90-94 0-4 95-99 Source: ISER, Status of Alaska Natives Report, 2004, pages 2-60 100 5-9 10-14 O 15-19 ur Choices, Our Future 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 65-69 70-74 75-79 Chapter 3: Alaska Native Population 80-84 85-89 90-94 95-99 100 33 www.firstalaskans.org ages have increased.