| Sumario: | Part of a special section on the problems of religious, national, and ethnic minorities around the world. The writer compares the position of Native Americans in 1996 with their status at the start of the 1900s. At the beginning of the 20th century, Native Americans ranked at the bottom of all socioeconomic indicators, having the lowest levels of life expectancy, per capita income, employment, and education; the poorest health and housing conditions; and the highest rates of alcoholism, suicide, infant mortality, plague, tuberculosis, diabetes, cervical cancer, and smallpox. By 1996, this remained an accurate profile of such peoples, with the exceptions that infant mortality has dropped to the second highest rate and smallpox has been eradicated worldwide. Native Americans do now have some rights with regard to burial practices and have more control over the health, well-being, and education of their children and the administration of certain federal programs relating to native peoples. However, laws addressing the needs of native peoples are still not effective.
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