Newly released data shows Alaska Native villages haven't experience a large loss in population.

Alaska Native leaders warned that high energy costs were forcing families to move to urban areas. But school enrollment figures are in line with prior years and some rural districts have seen an increase, according to The Anchorage Daily News.

"The closer I look, the less there is," Stephanie Martin, a researcher studying migration for the Institute of Social and Economic Research at the University of Alaska Anchorage, told the paper. "I'm not convinced there's a huge influx of people, or anything out of the ordinary."

Migration was a hot topic at this year's Alaska Federation of Natives conference.

Get the Story:
Figures refute village exodus (The Anchorage Daily News 12/13)

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