While the ideas in the report won’t solve every outstanding data challenge facing Tribes and Native American people, they would be important steps for creating data ecosystems that better support the well-being of Native and non-Native people alike.

You can read all of the ideas for action here:

Finally, federal, state, and regional policymakers should work to make government data more accurate and relevant to Tribes and Native American people. This includes by expanding the number of Native people working in data positions across all levels of government.

Third, federal, state, and regional partners should work to support Tribal sovereignty and self-determination.

One way to do so would be to expand Tribal access to data about their lands and citizens. Policymakers could emulate New Zealand’s Te Whata, a national data platform for Maōri Tribes.

Next, the federal government, states, and regions should invest in Tribal data capacity.

This could include providing funding to help Tribes develop their own in-house data expertise, and to design new data tools to meet their specific needs.

To start, federal, state, and regional governments can implement data strategies for interacting with Tribes and Tribal data.

These efforts could build on international best practices, such as Indigenous-led movements across Canada, New Zealand, and Australia that have resulted in national policy.

In response to these challenges, our report provides a robust set of ideas to improve data about Tribes and Native Americans.

While federal action is essential, it may not be likely over the next several years. Given that, the report also provides ideas for state and regional governments to pursue.

These challenges have a variety of impacts on Tribes and Native people. Inadequate data makes it harder for Tribes to access federal funding, a key source of revenue for government services. Ongoing data challenges can also contribute to misunderstandings about Tribes as government entities.

Finally, some federal, state, and local data remains inaccessible to Tribes.

Moreover, many public data sets about Tribes and Native people, including demographic information and public health data, among others, are now being removed.

Fourth, data sets are often designed without Tribal input, and data sets do not always reflect Tribal needs or interests

For example, many indicators that Tribal governments may have interest in tracking, such as Indigenous language proficiency, aren’t captured in existing federal or state surveys

Third, many data sets treat Native Americans as just a race, a decision that reflects misunderstandings about Native identity and Tribal governance.

In California, nearly 90% of Native American people identify as multi-racial or Hispanic, illustrating that Native people aren’t just one “race.”

Next, the relative remoteness and noncontiguous geography of Tribal reservations make data collection and aggregation difficult.

In Southern California, the construction of the Southern Pacific Railroad led to the breakup of many reservations. Policies like allotment also eroded Tribal land bases.

First, sample sizes for data about Native Americans are often too small, which affects the quality of many data sets

To illustrate this, look at the total Native American population across three different Census data products. The data sets vary by over 24%, despite measuring the same data point

However, Native American Tribes face the challenge of governing their citizens and territories with data that would be considered inadequate for any other level of government in the U.S.

We identify five major problems with data about Tribes and Native American people:

With good data, policymakers can make laws and regulations that reflect the conditions of the people they serve, and can make informed decisions about how to best support their citizens.

Native Americans need data that sufficiently measures their populations, lands, and governing priorities.

First, why does good data matter for Tribes and Native people?

Contrary to many people’s understanding, Native Americans aren’t just a race. Tribes and Native nations are sovereign nations who govern their lands and citizens, just as the federal government, states, and cities do.

You can read my full @brookings.edu report with @manannan.bsky.social and @hlstephens.bsky.social here: