Modern social statistics of Native Americans
Areas from their demographics and economy to health standards, drug and alcohol use, and land use and ownership all lead to a better understanding of Native American life.
Health standards for Native Americans have notable disparities from that of all United States racial and ethnic groups.
Those who are Native American alone or in combination with other races measure as 4.86 million individuals, or 1.60 percent of the nation's entire population.
The Census Bureau projects that American Indian and Alaska Natives will reach 5 million individuals by 2065.
The United States Census has documented 1.93 million individuals that are American Indian or Alaskan Native alone (not in combination with other races) with specified tribes.
With the rise of Indian gaming enterprises, the problem of poverty may have been variously addressed in select areas.
Yet, while Native Americans have begun to take more control of their tribal economies, poverty on Indian Reservations is still a major issue.
This is in comparison to the American national unemployment rate of 6.7% as of 4 April 2014[update],[13] or even during the worst part of the Great Depression at 25%.
[18] Past federal policies have continually been detrimental to tribal economies,[19] but self-determination has provided tribes with the independence and sovereignty to combat a history of poverty.
The most successful gaming tribe is the Viejas Reservation in California; its population is 232 and averages $28,128 per capita income.
Further breakdown of poverty rates show that Native Americans are consistently the highest among each race.
Reservation Indians have a 39% poverty rate; Non-Reservations, 26%; Black, 25%, Hispanic/Latino of all races, 23%, Pacific Islander, 18%, Asian, 13%; and White, 9%.
[20] In 2000, the states with the largest Native American populations were California, Oklahoma, Arizona, Texas and New Mexico.
[20] Native Americans live in every different location, from reservations and rural areas to major urban centers.
[5] The land-owning segment of the Native American population continues to increase, which in the later 1900s nearly doubled each decade.
[20] Other large concentrations of urban Native Americans include Phoenix, Arizona and Anchorage, Alaska.
[22] Native Americans require medical care and have health concerns similar to many other United States demographics.
From all ages of American Indians or Alaska Natives, approximately 12% were found to be in fair or poor health in 2005.
Reasons for these health disparities include "cultural barriers, geographic isolation, inadequate sewage disposal, and economic factors.
For congenital malformations and low birth weight, Native Americans infants suffer at a ratio of 1.3 to non-Hispanic whites.
[23] Within the United States region, Native American men have been found to be dying at the fastest rate of all people.
Women fare at a similar level, with their death rate growing 20% over fifteen years of American national decline.
Native American disease and epidemics are commonly thought of as being alcoholism on tribal lands and surrounding areas.
About 36% did have private health insurance to cover their medical care, while 24% relied on Medicaid provided through the federal government.
The IHS serves to provide health care services and administer various medical programs.
General statistics indicate that Native American women drink less than men; however, specific tribal social norms and location cause this to vary among individuals.
[34] As a result, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder rates are higher than the national average in some tribes.
[36] Native Americans are more likely than other ethnic groups to report past year illicit drug abuse.
[38] Drug-trafficking organizations run by African-American, Asian, and Native American gangs and criminal groups also smuggle and supply on-reservation drug retailers with inventories of marijuana, ice methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin.
[39] It is a potentially alarming statistic in the face of declining rates of reported marijuana use among 12- to 17- and 18- to 25-year-olds nationwide.
