CURRENT STATISTICS

MORTALITY:

• Lakota men have a life expectancy of less than 44 years, one of the lowest of any country in the World 
• The Lakota infant mortality rate is 300% more than the U.S. Average.
• One out of every four Lakota children born are fostered or adopted out to non-Indian homes.
• Teenage suicide rate is 150% higher than the U.S national average

DISEASE:

• Cervical cancer is 500% higher than the U.S national average.
• The rate of diabetes is 800% higher than the U.S national average.
• Federal Commodity Food Program provides high sugar, high fat, processed foods that increase our rates of diabetes and heart disease.

POVERTY:

• The median income is approximately $2,600 to $3,500 per year.
• 97% of our Lakota people live below the poverty line.
• Many families cannot afford heating oil, wood or propane and many residents use ovens to heat their homes.

UNEMPLOYMENT:

• Unemployment rates on our reservations are 80% or higher. 
• There is very little industry to provide jobs 

HOUSING:

• Elderly die each winter from hypothermia (freezing).
• 1/3 of the homes lack basic clean water and sewage while 40% lack electricity.
• 60% of Reservation families have no telephone.
• 60% of housing is infected with potentially fatal black molds.
• There is an estimated average of 17 people living in each family home (may only have two to three rooms). Some homes, built for 6 to 8 people, have up to 30 people living in them.

DRUGS AND ALCOHOL:

• More than half the Reservation’s adults battle addiction and disease.
• Alcoholism affects 9 in 10 families.

THREATENED CULTURE:

• Only 14% of the Lakota population can speak the Lakota language.  The language is not being shared inter-generationally. 
  
• Today, the average age of a fluent Lakota speaker is 65 years.
  
• Our Lakota language is an Endangered Language, on the verge of extinction and is not allowed to be taught in the U.S. Government schools.