Changing Numbers, Changing Needs American Indian Demography and Public Health (1996) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
2 The Size and Distribution of the American Indian Population: Fertility, Mortality, Residence, and Migration
2 The Size and Distribution of the American Indian Population: Fertility, Mortality, Residence, and Migration
Pages 17-52
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 17... ...
Harris (1994) reports the percentages of population growth exceeding natural increase among the American Indian population as 8.5 for 1970, 25.2 for 1980, and 9.2 for 1990.
|
From page 18... ...
Since that time, however, fertility rates among American Indians have risen apace. In 1940, there was a marked shift in the fertility of endogamous American Indian couples visa-vis that of American Indian women with non-Indian spouses the former now had higher fertility than the latter.
|
From page 19... ...
Indoor plumbing was uncommon in many Indian communities until the 1950s, and it is still uncommon in many Alaska Native villages (Snipp, 1989~. Nonetheless, the conditions that contributed to the rise in fertility among American Indians during the middle of this century very likely also contributed to the observed declines in mortality among American Indian populations in the United States, as well as in Canada (Snipp, 1989; Young, 1994~.
|
From page 20... ...
points out, the public health measures introduced by the Indian Health Service in the 1950s and 1960s succeeded in significantly reducing infectious disease. At the same time, however, the American Indian population has continued to be plagued by violence and substance abuse, health problems rooted deep in conditions stemming from economic disadvantage, family disorganization, and personal malaise (Bachman,1992~.
|
From page 21... ...
Diabetes rates vary substantially across the American Indian population, but deaths due to this disease are more than 230 percent greater for American Indians than for the U.S. population as a whole (Indian Health Service, 1994~.
|
From page 22... ...
The upshot was that many of these American Indians chose to remain in urban labor markets instead of returning to the poverty and joblessness of reservation life (Fixico, 1986; Bernstein, 1991~. Besides World War II, American Indians were affected by federal plans intended to cause the greatest resettlement of American Indians since the Indian Removal Act.
|
From page 23... ...
Such temporal comparisons are fraught with methodological problems, changing census definitions for urban areas, compositional changes in the Indian population due to changes in selfidentification noted earlier, and procedural changes in the census. Nonetheless, it should be beyond question that the American Indian population can be characterized as having experienced recent and rapid urbanization and as still having large numbers concentrated in rural areas.
|
From page 24... ...
FERTILITY Age at First Birth A key to explaining the high rates of American Indian fertility is that American Indian women begin their childbearing at a relatively early age.
|
From page 25... ...
In particular, these numbers suggest that young American Indian and black women have about the same fertility levels. In 1970, for example, American Indian women aged 15-24 had 0.65 children ever born, and black women had 0.67, a negligible difference.
|
From page 26... ...
In the same period, the decrease was 37 and 32 percent for black and white women, respectively. Needless to say, this decrease among American Indian women may reflect changes in population composition due to changing racial identities as much as "real" changes in fertility behavior.
|
From page 27... ...
The reasons for these differ TABLE 2-3 Mean Number of Children Ever Born to American Indian Women Aged 15 to 44, by Tribe,a 1990 Tribe 15-24 25-34 35-44 Cherokee 0.48 1.77 2.26 Chippewa 0.61 2.09 2.64 Navajo 0.56 2.23 3.13 Sioux 0.65 2.18 3.05 Apache 0.59 2.10 2.97 Choctaw 0.43 1.72 2.23 Iroquois 0.46 1.68 2.05 Pueblo 0.52 1.82 2.57 Lumbee 0.30 1.81 2.52 Creek 0.50 1.78 2.27 aTen largest tribes based on self-reports in the census.
|
From page 28... ...
Perhaps more important, correlates of fertility such as education and labor force participation also tend to be lower in rural areas. TABLE 2-4 Mean Number of Children Ever Born to American Indian Women Aged 15-44, by Place of Residence in 1970, 1980, and 1990 1970 1980 1990 Age Metro Nonmetro Metro Nonmetro Metro Nonmetro 15-24 0.37 0.44 0.30 0.40 0.30 0.37 25-34 2.11 2.31 1.39 1.74 1.24 1.70 35-44 2.78 3.12 2.55 2.84 1.90 2.25 SOURCE: U.S.
|
From page 29... ...
The coverage of these tabulations for 1990 included an estimated 1.21 million persons, or about 62 percent of the total American Indian population of 1.96 million. It is important to note that the population served by the Indian Health Service is heavily concentrated on reservations in rural areas.
|
From page 30... ...
In contrast, the non-Hispanic white population has lower fertility and mortality and a correspondingly older population, with a median age of 34.9. Table 2-5 shows that, age differences aside, the American Indian population still experiences substantially higher mortality than other Americans, notably the white population.
|
From page 31... ...
As suggested earlier, this trend can be traced back to 1955, when the Indian Health Service was transferred to the Public Health Service (Sorkin, 1988~. Around 1979, American Indian infant mortality
|
From page 32... ...
Overall, American Indian infant mortality has declined steeply over the last four decades, and the Indian Health Service undoubtedly deserves a great deal of credit for the care it provides to expectant mothers and newborns. Without this care, it is very likely that American Indians would have much higher numbers of infant deaths and infant mortality rates more closely resembling those found among other impoverished groups.
|
From page 33... ...
Ironically, for American Indians who reach middle age, the chances of survival improve significantly, especially as compared with the white population. While younger American Indians die at a much higher rate than whites of the same age, the death rate from all causes for American Indians aged 45-64 is only about 21 percent higher than the death rate for whites of the same age 968 and 798, respectively.
|
From page 34... ...
the same for American Indians and whites, and cancer is noticeably less common among American Indians, by about 38 percent. Indeed, the total death rate for American Indians in this age group is higher than for whites, mainly because of excessive deaths due to accidents and liver disease.
|
From page 35... ...
POPULATION DISTRIBUTION AND MIGRATION Regional Distribution The Census Bureau uses a standard set of geographic regions that are subdivided into multistate divisions. The percentages in Table 2-7 show the geographic distribution of the American Indian population across these areas between censuses since 1970.
|
From page 36... ...
36 o be u Go To o o V)
|
From page 37... ...
One additional observation that can be made about the population changes shown in Table 2-7, is that the rate of growth in all areas was smaller in the 1980s than in 1970s, reflecting in part changes in racial selfidentification. In the 1980s, the total growth of the American Indian population was about 38 percent, with natural increase accounting for about 22 percent.
|
From page 38... ...
Given the small difference involved, it is probably reasonable to conclude that the rapid urbanization of American Indians that took place in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s reached a point of stasis, and there is little reason to believe that the American Indian population of 1990 was significantly more urbanized than that of 20 years before. Although American Indians are one of the least urbanized groups in American society, they are nonetheless concentrated in a relatively small number of cities.
|
From page 39... ...
As important as reservations are to American Indian tribal life, it is
|
From page 40... ...
40 CHANGING NUMBERS, CHANGING NEEDS Makah~ Lul mi ~ ~ncn I sLE Inwe~ ~ ~ ~ :; ~ _ Shoal waterili - U~IIy. p ·F4UCtleshoot ~ ; r ·~ I N f~ T f~ IU ~ ~Blackieel ~ _)
|
From page 41... ...
SIZE AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN POPULATION 41 ~P 3.2 and Communine5 i/: AY ~ Micmac ~ ~I `-\ ~I M A I N E · passarr,3quadny ', ~ 01~. ~Ai~ N,l~lt ~j ~Penol~wol- ~ji ~DaerC,e~o~ On~ytR'II~ st Reg~s~;, \ `; anh fond Ou LACCI Bad Ri~eweenaw ~ ~Onawa ~ Mohawk )
|
From page 42... ...
In 1990, about 438,000 American Indians lived on state and federally recognized reservations and trust lands. In absolute numbers, there were more American Indians living on reservations then than at any time in the past; roughly 370,000 American Indians occupied reservations and trust lands in 1980.
|
From page 43... ...
In 1980, the Census Bureau reported that nearly 15 percent of the total American Indian population lived near but outside reservation land. The point to be made is that while 63 percent of American Indians live outside of lands served by tribal governments, it would be a mistake to assume that this statistic represents the number of persons outside of tribal life.
|
From page 45... ...
This is consistent with the percentages in Table 211 for reservations and not surprising because most reservations are located in nonmetropolitan areas. Residential mobility was highest for American Indians living in central cities, where about 65 percent of this population changed residences between 1985 and 1990.
|
From page 46... ...
In view of the earlier finding that the distribution of the American Indian population across regions, states, and cities has remained fairly stable for the past two decades, the above high rates of residential mobility may be surprising, presuming that residential mobility frequently leads to population redistribution. On the other hand, if residential mo
|
From page 47... ...
Despite these relatively high rates of in and out migration, net migration in virtually all of these areas was negligible, between 1 and 2 percent, lending credence to the idea that high rates of residential mobility do not signal a large-scale distributional shift in the American Indian population. Significantly, the West South Central Division, including Oklahoma with its large Indian population, was the only area to experience a net loss, which was dispersed across the other reg~ons.
|
From page 48... ...
The staggering growth in the American Indian population, coupled with the unique legal and political status accorded to American Indian tribes, is no less than a mandate for acquiring better knowledge about the demography of this population. Insofar as demography is the study of how human populations reproduce themselves, as well as the conditions in which they live, there are obvious and compelling reasons why a better understanding of American Indian demography is essential for social scientists and policymakers alike and perhaps even more so for American Indians themselves.
|
From page 49... ...
American Indians continue to be a highly mobile population, but their moves follow patterns that do not appreciably alter the existing residential distribution. Since 1970, there have been no major developments to cause a significant redistribution of the American Indian population, and the current distribution of American Indians appears to be a relatively stable one for the foreseeable future.
|
From page 50... ...
Roberts 1978 Native American Indian migration and relocation: Success or failure. Pacific Sociological Review 12:117-128.
|
From page 51... ...
Snipp, C.M., and G.D. Sandefur 1988 Earnings of American Indians and Alaska Natives: The effects of residence and migration.
|
From page 52... ...
1987 Characteristics of American Indian and Alaska Native births: United States. NCHS Monthly Vital Statistics Report.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.