(SitNews) - Alaska is home to one of the largest indigenous populations in the nation according to a recent article published by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. In the Alaska Economic Trends article, Eddie Hunsingerand and Eric Sandberg reported Alaska Natives represented 17 percent of the state in 2010 - which is a larger proportion than any other state.

Hunsinger is a state demographer and Sandberg is a research analyst specializing in Alaska geography and population. Both are with the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development and based in Juneau.

Hunsinger and Sandberg reported the Alaska Native population is made up of many distinct cultures and has lands in each region of Alaska. After large population declines that followed early contact with Europeans in the 18th and 19th centuries, the Native population has grown substantially over the past 100 years, and that growth is projected to continue said Hunsinger and Sandberg in their article. Today, most Alaska Natives still live in small villages and remote regional hubs even though the urban Native population has increased. Alaska’s urban areas were home to less than half the state’s Native population in 2010 they said. “Urban areas” refers to Anchorage, Juneau, and the Matanuska-Susitna, Fairbanks North Star, and Kenai Peninsula boroughs.

Click on the map for a larger image.
Source: Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Research and Analysis Section

The first Alaskans

People have resided in Alaska for at least 15,000 years, and possibly for more than 30,000 years. Migration to Alaska and the rest of North America, according to Hunsinger and Sandberg, is generally understood to have been across a land bridge that surrounded what is now the Bering Strait. It’s unclear how many waves of migration there were, or what drove them, but by the time Europeans first reached Alaska in the 1700s, dozens of distinct cultures and tens of thousands of people lived here said Hunsinger and Sandberg.

Hunsinger and Sandberg said in their article, these original residents of Alaska include the Inupiat from the northern and northwest parts of the state, the Yupik from the southwest coastal and delta region, the Aleut/Unangan from along the Aleutian chain, the Alutiiq/Sugpiaq and Eyak of the southcentral coast, Athabascans from the interior, and the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian of Southeast. There are also many more distinct cultures within these larger groups.

Research on human settlement puts the Alaska Native population at around 80,000 to 90,000 people by the time of regular contact with Europeans in the 18th and 19th centuries. A large part of these populations was lost to disease soon after contact. By the frst U.S. census of Alaska in 1880, the count of Alaska Natives was 32,996, along with 430 white settlers who lived mostly in Southeast.

Though that early count was incomplete, it’s clear that massive decline in the Alaska Native population followed first contact, wrote Hunsinger and Sandberg.

Further decline in mining era

According to Hunsinger and Sandberg, mining — especially gold — and commercial fishing of the late 1800s and early 1900s brought the first large-scale migrations of non-Natives to Alaska, and that significantly reduced the share of Native residents in the district. Between 1880 and 1900, Alaska Natives went from representing nearly 100 percent of the overall count to less than 50 percent of the population.

In contrast to the thinly spread-out Native population, the non-Native (mostly white) population at that time was mainly young male workers centered near mining and fishing sites including Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway, Fairbanks, Nome, and Kodiak.

The actual number of Alaska Natives declined as well during that period, to 29,536 in 1900 and then further to 25,331 in 1910. Since 1910, despite deaths from the influenza epidemic of 1918-1919, the Native population has grown with each decade reported Hunsinger and Sandberg.

Growth during military expansion

Hunsinger and Sandberg found with the economic slowdown between the 1920 and 1939 censuses, Alaska’s overall population growth halted and the Native share stayed at around 50 percent. The Native proportion later decreased following the start of World War II, the massive entrance of military personnel and bu ildup for the Cold War, and the expansion of the fishing and timber industries.

By 1950, the percentage of Natives was down to about 25 and still declining, reaching 17 percent by 1970. Still, the Native population was growing steadily, largely in areas far removed from the economic events of those days, and reached more than 50,000 people by the 1970 Census.

ANCSA created corporations

In 1966, the Alaska Federation of Natives was formed from the many established Native regional associations to act as a collective voice and help resolve ongoing land rights issues. The discovery of oil at Prudhoe Bay in 1968 pushed the state and federal government to settle Native land claims, and the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, or ANCSA, was signed into law in 1971.

Under ANCSA, the government granted 44 million acres of land to Alaska Natives and created the 13 Alaska Native regional corporations along with more than 200 village corporations. Hunsinger and Sandberg wrote that native corporations are an important part of the economy for Alaska Natives, providing dividends to their shareholders and generating a significant part of the economic activity in many Native communities.

Statewide oil booms and busts

The big discovery of oil brought two dramatic population boom-bust periods for the state: one in the 1970s with the construction and completion of the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline and one in the 1980s with new oil revenue followed by a significant drop in oil prices. In addition to these, Alaska’s birth rates increased in the 1980s when many of its new “baby boomer” residents were in their childbearing years.

Though the economic events of the 1970s and 1980s affected the whole state, migration shifts in the Native population were much smaller. The Native population grew less than the non-Native population, but with its robust birth rates it gained more than 35,000 people in that 20-year span - a 70 percent increase, wrote Hunsinger and Sandberg. By the 2000 Census, the Alaska Native and American Indian statewide population was 107,929.

A fifth of Alaskans

As of 2010, an estimated 120,452 people in the state were Alaska Native or American Indian, representing 17 percent of the state population. Including those who identified any Native ancestry increased the total to 20 percent, or nearly 140,000.

Majority Native areas

While many Alaska Natives live in Alaska’s major population centers, the areas with the highest proportions of the Native population are in remote western and northern Alaska reported Hunsinger and Sandberg. Eight Alaska boroughs or census areas were over 50 percent Native in the 2010 Census, and six were over 75 percent Native.

According to Hunsinger and Sandberg's article, the major Native groups counted in the Census, the Yupik and Inupiat of western and northern Alaska had the largest populations, followed by Athabascan, Tlingit and Haida, Aleut, and Tsimshian. Nearly 13,000 Alaskans reported American Indian heritage in 2010.

Southwest home to most Yupik

Of the more than 30,000 Yupik counted in Alaska in 2010, 75 percent lived in the western part of the state and were the majority in the Bethel, Dillingham, and Wade Hampton census areas. Hunsinger and Sandberg found that like all Alaska Native groups, a signifcant share of the Yupik people - 16 percent - lived primarily in Anchorage. Bethel Census Area had the largest population of Yupik by far, at 12,212.

Inupiat make up most of north

According to Hunsinger and Sandberg, Alaska was home to nearly 26,000 people of Inupiat origin in 2010, and more than half lived in the Northern Region. The Inupiat made up the majority of the household population in the North Slope and Northwest Arctic Boroughs, and just under half the population of the Nome Census Area. The single area with the largest number of Inupiat was Anchorage, where more than 6,100 people reported they were Inupiat alone or in combination with another race. Northwest Arctic Borough had the largest number of people who self-identified as Inupiat alone, at 5,268.

Athabascans cover a large area

Athabascans had an Alaska population of 16,665 in 2010. With lands covering the entire Interior down to parts of the southcentral coast, many Athabascans live in the Fairbanks North Star Borough and Anchorage. The massive and sparsely populated Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, which has no central hub and is made up of dozens of small communities, was home to more than 3,800 Athabascans in 2010 — more than two-thirds of the YK Census Area’s population said Hunsinger and Sandberg.

Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian live in Southeast

The Tlingit and Haida of Southeast Alaska accounted for more than 13,000 Alaska residents in 2010. While the domain of the Tlingit has historically covered almost all of Southeast, Haida are originally from Prince of Wales Island.

The largest Tlingit communities are in the Southeast hubs of Juneau, Sitka, and Ketchikan, but Anchorage is home to many Tlingit as well.

Of the population, the percent native in the Ketchikan Gateway Borough is reported as 18%, Prince of Wales is 44%, Sitka is 21% and Juneau is 15%.

The Tsimshian originated in British Columbia but have resided in Metlakatla on Annette Island - Alaska’s only Indian Reservation - since the late 1800s. Tsimshian had a statewide population of 1,939 in 2010.

Aleut includes two groups

The basic 2010 Census tables for the Aleut population include both the Aleut/Unangan of the Aleutian chain and the Alaska Peninsula as well as the Alutiiq/Sugpiaq of the Alaska Peninsula, Kodiak Island, and Southcentral Alaska.

According to Hunsinger and Sandberg, the Russians used the word “Aleut” in the 18th century for both the Unangan and the Sugpiaq. “Alutiiq” refl ects the Sugpiaq pronunciation of “Aleut,” but many Alutiiq/Sugpiaq do use the “Aleut” spelling. Though the data group the two, the Alutiiq/Sugpiaq are related by language to the Yupik, and the Unangan are not.

The total population count for “Aleut” in the 2010 Census was 11,216, with nearly 40 percent residing in Anchorage. Kodiak Island Borough, a major area for the Alutiiq, was home to more than 1,600 Alutiiq or Aleut people in 2010. Large parts of the household populations of Aleutians East Borough and Aleutians West Census Area identified as Aleut as well said Hunsinger and Sandberg.

Increasingly urban

Within the state, a growing share of the Alaska Native population lives in the population centers, largely away from village life. Between 2000 and 2010, the portion of the Alaska Native or American Indian population that lived in Anchorage and the Matanuska-Susitna, Fairbanks North Star, Juneau, and Kenai Peninsula boroughs increased from 38 to 44 percent reported Hunsinger and Sandberg. Anchorage, which is home to most Alaskans overall, gained 6,360 people of Alaska Native or American Indian origin between 2000 and 2010, by far the most in the state.

Rural to urban migration

Hunsinger and Sandberg reported the reason for the increasingly urban residence of Alaska Natives is migration, both historic and current. Migration data based on Permanent Fund Dividend applications show clear net migration from majority-Native areas to the rest of the state as well as outside. On average, the mostly Native
boroughs lose about 750 residents per year to the rest of the state and lose about 900 people overall.

Hunsinger and Sandberg said it’s important to note, though, that these data include all residents of those majority-Native areas and not just Natives. Also, many people are moving both to and from remote Alaska. Further, many urban Alaska Natives keep strong ties with their traditional Native communities and may spend significant parts of the year there or plan to eventually return.

Large presence in Washington

A little over one-fourth of those with Alaska Native origin lived outside Alaska as of 2010 - a large share, but one that hasn’t changed much since 2000 reported Hunsinger and Sandberg. Washington has by far the most Alaska Native residents outside of Alaska, with 9 percent of the nationwide total in 2010, which includes Alaska. Twenty-two percent of U.S. residents with Tlingit, Haida, or Tsimshian ancestry lived in Washington, and 15 percent of those with Aleut/Unangan or Alutiiq/Sugpiaq ancestry lived there.

California and Oregon are the only other states that were home to more than 1 percent of Alaska Natives, at 4 and 2 percent respectively.

Consistently high birth rates

Hunsinger and Sandberg reported that Alaska Natives have higher birth rates than non-Natives, and these contribute to steady population growth at the state level as well as for many remote communities that regularly lose residents to migration. On average, Natives have a total fertility rate — the number of children per woman
— of more than 3, compared to less than 2.5 for non-Natives in the state.

Residents of majority-Native boroughs and census areas have even higher fertility rates than the Native population as a whole. Wade Hampton Census Area has a rate of over 4, and several areas in western and northern Alaska have rates over 3.5 said Hunsinger and Sandberg.

A young population overall

With decades of high birth rates, the Alaska Native population is young said Hunsinger and Sandberg. The median age of Natives in 2010 was just 26.7 compared to 33.8 for the whole state. There are relatively few Alaska Natives in the highest age groups, so even with lower life expectancy than the Alaska average, the natural increase (births minus deaths) of Natives in Alaska is high and more than makes up for statewide Native losses due to out-migration. Statewide net migration losses of the Native population can vary considerably from year to year, and averaged an estimated 650 residents per year between 2000 and 2010.

Steady growth projected

Population projections based on rates of births, deaths, and migration suggest the state’s Native population will grow steadily through 2035, gaining 40,000 people for a 33 percent increase from the 2010 Census said Hunsinger and Sandberg. To compare, the state as a whole is projected to add a little more than 200,000 people to its 2010 count of 710,231, for a 29 percent increase.

All age groups to increase

The Native population ages 20 to 64, which roughly covers the working ages, is expected to increase by nearly 16,000 people, or 24 percent, between 2010 and 2035. That increase is very large and is attributable to the high birth rates among Natives over the past 25 years said Hunsinger and Sandberg. For the state, the same age group is projected to increase by just 11 percent through 2035.

Hunsinger and Sandberg reported the population of Alaska Natives age 65 or older is projected to grow by nearly 12,000 people, or 150 percent, between 2010 and 2035. Though that increase is dramatic and will represent an important shift for the Native community, it’s not out of line with the projected statewide increase of 180 percent over the same period said Hunsinger and Sandberg.

Sustained populations

Through the dramatic ups and downs of population and economic change that Alaska has seen over the past 100 years, the Alaska Native population has sustained a steady increase in numbers. By the start of the 21st century, the Native population was more than 100,000 and on pace to reach 150,000 by 2030 said Hunsinger and Sandberg.

Though Alaska Natives are increasingly connected to the state’s biggest cities, many Native villages in remote areas still gain population regularly, and continued growth for both ways of life is likely.

Edited by Mary Kauffman, SitNews

On the Web:

2013 Alaska Economic Trends Magazines
http://www.labor.state.ak.us/trends/

Source of News: 

Alaska Economic Trends
Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development
www.labor.state.ak.us

SitNews ©2013
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