Appendix C
Population Changes On and Near Reservations
by Darrel Smith

    It is very difficult to find long range population statistics on reservation areas because the Census Bureau has not collected that information. In South Dakota five counties lie completely within reservation boundaries and useable statistics are available for these counties:

Indian and White Population Changes From 1960 to 1990 in Five South Dakota Counties That are Within Reservation Boundaries

Census Bureau Population Totals and Median Ages

Five County Totals

    These five counties present a very sobering trend. The non-Indian population has declined over forty-three percent while the Indian population increased over eighty-seven percent. This change caused these five counties to go from just over fifty-one percent Indian to over seventy-seven percent Indian in just thirty years. During these thirty years the median age of Indians in these counties stayed at about eighteen, while the median age of the non-Indian population went from about twenty-six to about thirty-six. If the non-Indian population declined over forty-three percent with a starting median age of twenty-six, what is likely to happen in the next thirty years with a starting median age of thirty-six? It may already be too late to change this massive population shift.
    In the unlikely event that these five counties accurately represent reservation areas nationally, based on the changes and the 1990 census data, we could project the following population shifts on reservations nationally in the last thirty year period:

Projected National Reservation Population Changes Extrapolated From Population Changes In Five South Dakota Counties

While such projections are notoriously unreliable, this information demonstrates the need for more accurate national information. Such a massive population shift as a result of discriminatory government policy can be described as a patient, bloodless form of ethnic cleansing. As might be expected, many reservation residents find it difficult to express the anger and rage that they feel because of these policies and trends.
    Census information raises another surprising question. Given the following increase in the Indian population in South Dakota, why didn't the Indian population grow even faster in the five reservation counties?

Population Changes in South Dakota

Thus the Indian population actually grew more rapidly in the state of South Dakota than it did in the five counties. Economic information about the five counties might explain why:

State and Federal Economic Ranking of the Five Counties

(1994 Data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis)

Apartheid government policy is turning reservation areas into poor, isolated, racially segregated, rural Indian homelands. Long term, it is likely that Indians remaining in reservations will suffer the most harm.
    Population studies of three of the largest communities in South Dakota and a small community near two reservations demonstrate the growth of the off-reservation Indian community:

Population Changes from 1960 to 1990 in Four Off-Reservation Communities in South Dakota

Census Bureau Population Totals

Four Community Population Totals

    Again the federal policies that cause reservation problems are no longer confined to reservations. As Indians leave rural reservations for urban communities, unfortunately they often bring reservation social and economic problems with them. These problems strain community resources including welfare, education, medical and legal systems. The Mobridge community has studied the feasibility of building a regional jail. In the process they did an Inmate Profile Summary. They found that although their Indian population is less than twelve percent of the total population, seventy-five percent of their inmates are Native Americans with another eleven percent of unknown race. This experience is repeated in many other off-reservation communities.