STACKER — More than 5 million Native Americans as 574 Federal recognition and 63 nationally recognized tribes. This figure is expected to rise to 10 million by 2060.
A federally recognized tribe is a sovereign entity with an intergovernmental relationship with the U.S. government and enjoys autonomy in areas such as tribal law and taxation.
Only 13% of Native Americans live in 324 approved reservations. Lands entrusted by the United States government for the settlement of Native Americans are about 56 million acresThe 16 million-acre Navajo Nation Reservation in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah is the largest, and the smallest is the 1.32-acre Pitt River Tribal Cemetery in California.
Stacker uses Census Bureau data to rank the states with the largest Native American populations 2021 American Community Survey. The Census Bureau’s definition of Native American includes Alaska Natives but excludes Native Hawaiians.
compared to other races in the U.S., the life expectancy of Native Americans fell by more than five years. The suicide rate for Native American youth is 2.5 times that of youth in other parts of the country. Native Americans are also 2.5 times more likely to experience violent crime than the national average, and more than four out of five Native American women will experience violence in their lifetime.
Taken together, these problems can be seen as symptoms of several larger problems, including access to social services, educational opportunities, nutritious food and health care.
Property rights present an even more serious problem, since it is difficult for residents without land deeds to establish credit, which presents a significant barrier to upward mobility. Tribal land, meanwhile, is difficult to sell for franchises and other commercial developers because the companies are often reluctant to negotiate contract terms under tribal law.
The launch of the “American Indian” movement in Minnesota in 1968, which advocates for sovereignty and rights, was an effort to ease the above statistics. In 1973, the group famously occupied the Wounded Knee field on the Pine Ridge Reservation for more than two months.
Rep. Deb Haaland of Laguna Pueblo, N.M., has since been named to head the U.S. Interior Department under President Joe Biden, becoming the top U.S. First Aboriginal cabinet minister. Her responsibilities included the underfunded Bureau of Indian Education and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which oversees all tribal lands in U.S. trusteeship.
Read on to learn which states have the largest Native American populations.
Texas ranks fourth as the state with the largest Native American population.View the entire list at Stacker.com
