Issues Facing Native Americans
Environmental Poverty
The ratio of American Indians and Alaska Natives to all people, living below the poverty level is more
than 2 to 1.
25.7% of Native Americans and Alaska Natives are in poverty. Only 12.4% of America is.
Diabetes & Obesity
15.1% of American Indians and Alaska Natives aged 20 years or older have diabetes (diagnosed and
undiagnosed). American Indians and Alaska Natives are 2.2 times more likely to have diabetes than
whites.
Complications of diabetes:
Heart disease and stroke, High blood pressure, Kidney disease, Nervous system disease,
Amputations, Dental disease, and complications of pregnancy.
The American Indian population also has high prevalence rates of obesity.
Overall, 43% of American Indians were classified as obese, 34.5% were overweight, and 22.8% had
normal/low weight. Among the highest rates reported for American Indians, 80% of native women and
67% of native men in Arizona have diabetes.
Complications of Obesity:
increased risk of diabetes, asthma, hypertension, arthritis, and congestive heart failure.
Education
71 % of American Indians and Alaska Natives 25 and older had at least a high school education ,
compared with 80 % of the total population. 11% of the American Indian and Alaska Native population
had at least a bachelor’s degree, compared with 24 % of all people.
• Educational attainment varied among the American Indian tribal groupings. About 80 % of Creek,
Choctaw, and Iroquois had at least a high school education. The %'s of the tribal groupings with at least
a bachelor’s degree ranged from 7 % to 17 %
• 75 % of Alaska Natives had at least a high school education. Among Alaska Native tribal groupings, 82
% of Tlingit-Haida had at least a high school education and 11 % had at least a bachelor’s degree, in
contrast with 70 % and 6 %, respectively, of Eskimos.*