As of 2005, Alaska has an estimated population of 663,661, which is an increase of 5,906, or 0.9%, from the prior year and an increase of 36,730, or 5.9%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 36,590 people derived from its 53,132 births of which 16,542 deaths is subtracted from, and an increase due to net migration of 1,181 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 5,800 people, and migration within the country produced a net loss of 4,619 people.

Alaska is the least densely populated state. The population of the state is 626,932, according to the 2000 U.S. census. Alaska is the fourth-smallest U.S. state, population-wise, following North Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming.

Race and ancestry

The racial breakdown of the state is:
67.6% White (Non-Hispanic)
15.6% Native American or Alaska Native
4.1% Hispanic
4% Asian
3.5% Black
5.4% Mixed race

The largest ancestry groups in the state are: German (16.6%), Alaska Native or American Indian (15.6%), Irish (10.8%), British (9.6%), American (5.7%), and Norwegian (4.2%). Alaska has the largest percentage of American Indians (16%) of any state.

The vast, sparsely populated bush regions of northern and western Alaska are primarily inhabited by Alaska Natives, and they also have a large presence in the southeast. Anchorage, Fairbanks, and other parts of south-central and southeast Alaska have many whites of northern and western European ancestry. The Wrangell-Petersburg area has many residents of Scandinavian ancestry and the Aleutians have many Filipinos. Most of the state’s black population lives in Anchorage.

As of 2000, 85.7% of Alaska residents age 5 and older speak English at home and 5.2% speak Native American languages. Spanish speakers make up 2.9% of the population, followed by Tagalog speakers at 1.5% and Korean at 0.8%.

Religion

Christian - 81%
Protestant - 68%
Baptist - 11%
Lutheran - 8%
Methodist - 6%
Pentecostal - 2%
Episcopal - 1%
Quaker - 1%
Orthodox - 8%
Catholic - 7%
Latter-day Saint - 1%
Other religions - 1%
Not religious/agnostic - 17%

Notable is Alaska’s relatively large Eastern Orthodox Christian population, a result of early Russian colonization and missionary work among indigenous Alaskans.