About 5 million Native Americans live in the USA today, or 1.6% of the total population. The biggest tribes are the Cherokee, Chippewa, Navajo, and Sioux. About a fifth of all Native Americans in the US live on reservations. The rest live in cities or towns.

Indian culture is still preserved on reservations. Here, they practice old traditions. However, they are worried that their traditions will disappear because more and more of them are being integrated into society.

Today, Native Americans are better off than they were at the beginning of the 20th century. They get a better education; many go to high school and college. Many Native Americans work as lawyers, doctors or have other important jobs, like working for government companies.

Some tribes get money from tourism or selling handicrafts. In 1988 the government allowed casinos and other gambling operations on reservations. Other tribes earn money from taxes on oil or gas that is produced on their land.

Even though life has improved , Native Americans still face many problems in today's America. Unemployment on reservations is about 50%. The income of an Indian family is much lower than that of a white family. Most Native Americans are badly paid and are unskilled workers. Suicide rates are also higher than in other places. Some of them try to reduce their problems by drinking alcohol and taking drugs.

Population of Native Americans in % of the overall population 

Image: (modified)  Abbasi786786, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Casino operated by a Native American tribe in Connecticut 

Image:Elfenbeinturm, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons


Words

  • better off = to have more money and live a better life than before
  • century = a hundred years
  • disappear = go away
  • drugs = illegal substances that people take to feel happy or make their problems go away
  • face = to deal with
  • gambling = to risk money in a game or sport
  • government = the people who rule a country
  • handicrafts = making things with your hands, which you then sell , especially to tourists
  • however = but
  • improve = to get better
  • income = the money you get when you have a job
  • integrated = to become part of a group of people
  • lawyer = a person who knows a lot about the rules of a country and gives you advice
  • practice = keep up; do things often
  • preserve = keep, protect
  • reduce = to make smaller
  • reservation = an area of land in the US kept separate for Native Americans to live on
  • society = all the people in general
  • suicide rate = the number of people who kill themselves
  • taxes = money that the government gets when people sell goods
  • tribe = a group of people who have the same way of life and the same language; they are ruled by a chief
  • unemployment = people who do not have a job
  • unskilled worker = a person who has not learned a trade or does not have special talents