Alaska

Race and ancestry
According to the 2000 U.S. Census, 75% of Alaska residents are white. 15.6% are American Indian or Alaska Native, the largest proportion of any state. Multiracial/Mixed-Race people are the third largest group of people in the state, totaling 6.9% of the population. The largest self-reported 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%).

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. Most of the state's black population lives in Anchorage, though Fairbanks also has a sizable black population.


Languages

Russian Orthodox church in Sitka, Alaska.According to the 2000 U.S. Census, 85.7% of Alaska residents aged 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%).[17] A total of 5.2% of Alaskans speak one of the state's 22 indigenous languages, known locally as Native languages.


Religion
Alaska has been identified, along with Pacific Northwest states Washington and Oregon, as being the least religious in the U.S.[18] According to statistics collected by the Association of Religion Data Archives, only about 39% of Alaska residents were members of religious congregations. Evangelical Protestants had 78,070 members, Roman Catholics had 54,359, and mainline Protestants had 37,156.[19] After Catholics, the largest single denominations were Southern Baptists with 22,959, Orthodox with 20,000, and Mormons with 19,019.[19] The large Eastern Orthodox population is a result of early Russian colonization and missionary work among Alaska Natives.[20] In 1795, the First Russian Orthodox Church was established in Kodiak. Intermarriage with Alaskan Natives helped the Russian immigrants integrate into society. As a result, more and more Russian Orthodox churches[21] gradually became established within Alaska. Alaska also has the largest Quaker population (by percentage) of any state.[22] In 2003 there were 3,000 Jews in Alaska.[23]


Economy

The Trans-Alaska Pipeline transports oil, Alaska's most important export, from the North Slope to ValdezThe 2005 gross state product was $39.9 billion. Its per-capita GSP for 2005 was $60,079, 3rd in the nation. Alaska's economy relies heavily on petroleum extraction, with more than 80% of the state's revenues derived from this industry. Alaska's main export product (excluding oil and natural gas) is seafood,

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Biking

[6970Usermik]

... did Census ever think of counting the rural villages and not just part of alaska?

[christof139]

@kingofcb1900, Strange that you hate yourself. Seek help, or jump.