North Carolina ^3)
Minority Health Facts
American
Indians
Office of Minority Health and State Center for Health Statistics
August 1999
Population
North Carolina has the largest American Indian popula¬
tion east of the Mississippi and the fifth-largest American
Indian population in the nation, according to the 1990
Census. In 1997, the U.S. Bureau of the Census estimated
the number of American Indians living in North Carolina
to be 95,398, an 18% increase from 1990.
The Census Bureau estimated the 1997 median age of the
state’s American Indian population to be 27.8 years,
while the median age for White North Carolinians was
36.6 years.
Although American Indians live in each of North
Carolina’s 100 counties, 80% of the population is
concentrated in 1 1 counties, five of which are clustered in
the southeastern part of the state. Fifty-one percent of
North Carolina’s Indian population lives in Robeson
County, accounting for 39% of that county’s total
population.1
Among the American Indian tribes in North Carolina are
seven state -recognized tribes: the Eastern Band of the
Cherokee, Coharie, Haliwa-Saponi, Lumbee, Meherrin,
Waccamaw-Siouan, and the Indians of Person County.
The Eastern Band of the Cherokee is the only tribe
residing on a federal reservation and the only group
served by the Indian Health Service of the U.S. Public
Health Service.1
Due to the small numbers of births and deaths among
American Indians in reservation counties (Graham,
Jackson and Swain), most of the analyses in this report
are not broken down into American Indians living on
reservations and those not on reservations. For example,
in the three-year span 1995-97, there was a total of 4,596
live births among American Indians in North Carolina,
with only 8.6% (396) occurring in the three reservation
counties. Similarly, there was a total of 1,369 American
Indian deaths in the state during the same period with
1 0. 1 % ( 1 66) occurring in reservation counties. Only
9.6% (five) of the 52 reported American Indian infant
deaths occurred in the reservation counties. Even after
combining several years of data, these numbers are too
small to provide meaningful rates or comparisons.
1997 NC Population Estimates by Race
1.642. 980
Black
22%
95.398
American
Indian
5.594.769
White
76%
0
1%
92.036
Asian/Pacific Islander
1%
The total estimated 1997 NC
population was 7.425.183. The
Hispanic'Latino population,
estimated at 149.390 to
260,000 or more, is included
primarily in the "White' and
■Black' race categories.
1 997 population estimates from U. S. Bureau ol the Census, using ollicial
Census categories
NC American Indian Population Distribution
1 . Robeson County (51% of the
total American Indian population)
2. Columbus
3. Cumberland
4. Guilford 8. Mecklenburg
5. Halifax 9. Scotland
6. Hoke 10. Swain
7. Jackson 11. Wake
Other counties with high
numbers of American Indians are:
12. Bladen
13. Harnett
14. Person
15. Rockingham
16. Sampson
17. Warren
Seventy-nine percent of the state’s American Indian
population lives in rural areas. The economic status of the
North Carolina Indian population is well below that of the
state’s general population, according to the 1990 Census,
when 24% of Indian families were living below the
poverty level compared to 8.6% of Whites. More than
40% of American Indian families were living below
150% of the poverty level. Approximately 20% of Indian
families were headed by females. Of those households,
54% lived in poverty, while 27% of families headed by
White females lived in poverty. About three-fourths of
the American Indian population had an educational level
of high school or less, compared to 56% of Whites. An
American Indian was 2.5 times as likely to be unem¬
ployed as a White person.
