Census 2000 Profile: American Indians in the United States MARCH 13, 2001 A profile of the American Indian population in the United States. For the first time in history, the Census 2000 offered Americans the chance to identify themselves as belonging to more than once race. The overwhelming majority of Americans (98 percent), however, reported only one race. But nearly seven million (2.4 percent) reported belonging to more than one racial category. The results affect dramatically the overall American Indian and Alaska Native population in the country. By single-race alone, there are about 2.5 million American Indians and Alaska Natives in the country. Including respondents who identified themselves as American Indian and another race, the number jumps to 4.1 million. Due to the difference, comparing the Census 2000 directly with the Census 1990 is not straightforward. Based only on single-race respondents, however, the American Indian population increased 26 percent over the past decade, from 1,959,234 to 2,475,956. The Census Bureau will release reported tribal ancestry breakdowns in the coming weeks. |
Table 1. American Indian and Alaska Native Population for the United States: 2000 | RACE | NUMBER | PERCENT OF TOTAL POPULATION | All | 281,421,906 | 100.0 | American Indian and Alaska Native alone (a) | 2,475,956 | 0.9 | American Indian and Alaska Native plus other races (b) | 1,643,345 | 0.6 | American Indian and Alaska Native; White (c) | 1,082,683 | 0.4 | American Indian and Alaska Native; Black or African American (d) | 182,494 | 0.1 | American Indian and Alaska Native; White; Black or African American (e) | 112,207 | - | American Indian and Alaska Native; Asian (f) | 52,429 | - | All other combinations (g) | 213,532 | 0.1 | American Indian and Alaska Native alone along with combination (h) | 4,119,301 | 1.5 |
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