Library Guides: Poverty: Native Americans

Facts about Native Americans

28.4% The percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives that were in poverty in 2010. For the nation as a whole, the corresponding rate was 15.3 percent.

$35,062 The median income of American Indian and Alaska Native households. This compares with $50,046 for the nation as a whole.

29.2% The percentage of American Indians and Alaska Natives who lacked health insurance coverage. For the nation as a whole, the corresponding percentage was 15.5 percent.

Poverty and health disparities for American Indian and Alaska Native children: current knowledge and future prospects
This report explores the current state of knowledge regarding inequalities and their effect on American Indian and Alaska Native children, underscoring gaps in our current knowledge and the opportunities for early intervention to begin to address persistent challenges in young American Indian and Alaska Native children's development. This overview documents demographic, social, health, and health care disparities as they affect American Indian and Alaska Native children, the persistent cultural strengths that must form the basis for any conscientious intervention effort, and the exciting possibilities for early childhood interventions.
NPR Story: Native Foster Care: Lost Children, Shattered Families
Wheel of Misfortune. (cover story)
Focuses on gaming on reservations and the abuse of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. Story of Maryann Martin, whose mother had been the last surviving member of the Augustine Band of Cahuilla Mission Indians in California, and how she got the right to operate a casino on an abandoned Indian reservation in Coachella; Amount of federal aid she gets for a tribe of one; Discussion of revenues from gambling, the idea that casinos do not raise most Native Americans out of poverty, and investors who benefit from Indian casinos.