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Demographics of Alaska |
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This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (May 2007) |
| Historical populations | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1950 | 128,643 |
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| 1960 | 226,167 | 75.8% | |
| 1970 | 300,382 | 32.8% | |
| 1980 | 401,851 | 33.8% | |
| 1990 | 550,043 | 36.9% | |
| 2000 | 626,932 | 14% | |
As of 2005, Alaska has an estimated population of 663,661, which is an increase of 5,906, or 0.9%, from the prior year and an increase of 36,730, or 5.9%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 36,590 people (53,132 births minus 16,542 deaths), and an increase due to net migration of 1,181 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 5,800 people, and migration within the country produced a net loss of 4,619 people. More than half of the state's population lives in Anchorage, Juneau and Fairbanks. Two fifths of it in Anchorage alone.
With a population of 626,932, according to the 2000 U.S. census,1 Alaska is ranked 48th out of the 50 states. But ranked by population density, Alaska is the least densely populated at 2.849 people per square kilometer (1.1 per square mile), with the next nearest ranking state, Wyoming, at 13.208 (5.1 per square mile), and the most densely populated, New Jersey, at 2937.92 people per square kilometer (1,134.4 per square mile).
For purposes of the federal census, the state is divided into artificial divisions defined geographically by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.
The center of population of Alaska is located approximately 64.37 kilometers (39.96 miles) east of Anchorage at 61.288254 N. latitude, -148.716968 W. longitude.2.
Since the 2000 census Alaska has passed North Dakota to become the 47th most populous state.
In 2006, Alaska has a larger percentage of tobacco smokers than the national average, with 24% of Alaskan adults smoking.3
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Multiracial/Mixed-Race people are the third largest group of people in the state, totaling 6.9% of the population or 44,426. The largest ancestry groups in the state are: German (16.6%), Alaska Native or American Indian (15.6%), Irish (10.8%), British (9.6%), American (5.7%), and Norwegian (4.2%). Alaska has the largest percentage of American Indians of any state.
The vast, sparsely populated regions of northern and western Alaska are primarily inhabited by Alaska Natives, who are also numerous in the southeast. Anchorage, Fairbanks, and other parts of south-central and southeast Alaska have many whites of northern and western European ancestry. The Wrangell-Petersburg area has many residents of Scandinavian ancestry and the Aleutians contain a large Filipino population. The vast majority of the state's black population lives in Anchorage and Fairbanks.
| Demographics of Alaska (csv) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| By race | White | Black | AIAN* | Asian | NHPI* |
| 2000 (total population) | 75.43% | 4.46% | 19.06% | 5.24% | 0.88% |
| 2000 (Hispanic only) | 3.42% | 0.33% | 0.45% | 0.16% | 0.06% |
| 2005 (total population) | 74.71% | 4.72% | 18.77% | 5.90% | 0.88% |
| 2005 (Hispanic only) | 4.32% | 0.38% | 0.48% | 0.19% | 0.05% |
| Growth 2000–05 (total population) | 4.85% | 12.03% | 4.27% | 19.23% | 5.35% |
| Growth 2000–05 (non-Hispanic only) | 3.49% | 11.30% | 4.02% | 18.96% | 5.86% |
| Growth 2000–05 (Hispanic only) | 33.56% | 21.02% | 14.52% | 27.89% | -1.95% |
| * AIAN is American Indian or Alaskan Native; NHPI is Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander | |||||
According to the 2000 U.S. Census, 85.7% of Alaska residents age 5 and older speak English at home. The next most common languages are Spanish (2.88%), Yupik (2.87%), Tagalog (1.54%), and Iñupiaq (1.06%).4
A total of 5.2% of Alaskans speak one of the state's 22 indigenous languages, known locally as Native languages. These languages belong to two major language families, Eskimo-Aleut and Na-Dené (Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit). As the homeland of these two major language families of North America, Alaska has been described as the crossroads of the continents, providing evidence for the recent settlement of North America via the Bering land bridge.
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Notable is Alaska's relatively large Eastern Orthodox Christian population, a result of early Russian colonization and missionary work among indigenous Alaskans. Alaska also has the largest Quaker population (by percentage) of any state. Also, as of 1994, there are 3,060 Jews in Alaska. 6 Jehovah's Witnesses stands at a little less than 2,400. Estimates for the number of Alaskan Muslims range from 1,000 to 5,000.7
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