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In The Hoop
TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2001

Welcome to In The Hoop, Indianz.Com's occasional column about assorted Indian issues.

Census Bureau Releases Survey
The Census Bureau on Monday released initial results of the long-awaited Census 2000 Supplementary Survey, a snapshot of sorts of the economic, educational and social background of the nation.

The Census Bureau surveyed 700,000 households in all 50 states, using the data to estimate nationwide characteristics. Age, income, language spoken at home, level of education, employment and home ownership are some of the questions collected.

The survey doesn't contain any reservation-specific data, unfortunately. Information on Indian Country will be released over the coming years -- statistics eagerly awaited by tribal leaders.

But you can still learn a lot from the survey. Especially interesting are the ancestry data. According to the national data, the top ranking ancestries cited by Americans in 2000 were:

• German at 45.5 million
• Irish at 33.0 million
• Italian at 15.9 million
• English at 28.3 million

At 19.6 million "United States of America" curiously ranked 5th. Some Americans are still patriotic.

With the American Indian and Alaska Native population ranging from 2.5 million to 4.1 million, when mixed-race Americans are added, Indian Country beat out such ancestries as:

• Russian at 3.0 million
• French Canadian at 2.2 million
• West (not American) Indian at 1.9 million
• Welsh at 1.9 million
• Hungarian at 1.5 million

The lowest ranked ancestry was Lithuanian with an estimated 714,000 Americans claiming ancestry from that part of Eastern Europe.

Data on tribal ancestries is forthcoming. Who will come out on top: Navajo or Cherokee? Place your bets now.

The other often-cited statistic, surprisingly enough, is plumbing facilities. Alaska, the state with the largest Native percentage of the population, ranked highest with almost 8,300 homes, or about 3.2 percent.

New Mexico followed with 1.8 percent, or about 14,000 homes, without complete plumbing. The state has the second highest Native percentage.

New Mexico leads in the digital divide, at least when it comes to homes without phones. Home to part of the Navajo Nation and 19 Pueblos, some 6.2 percent of homes had no telephone service.

To locate data for your state, visit The Census 2000 Supplementary homepage at http://www.census.gov/c2ss/www/Products/Profiles/2000/index.htm.

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