ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – New data suggests that Alaska will see a decreasing population over the next three decades or so.

The Department of Labor and Workforce Development released its Alaska Populations Projects report on Wednesday, which states, “Alaska will likely grow for the first 10 years but as the population ages, annual natural growth will slow, leading to projected losses through migration.”

These findings are based on state demographics, using past and current population trends, including looking at the net migration, along with birth and death rates.

“We say, ‘What would happen if we continue to see those trends going out 30 years?” David Howell, a state demographer for the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, said. “So it’s just kind of a picture of what it would look like if we see similar population change over the next 30 years that we’ve seen the last 30 years.”

By 2050, the report states that Alaska is projected to have a population of 722,806. It amounts to roughly 14,000 fewer people than the state recorded in 2023, about a 2% drop.

The state is expecting to see an increase to the Alaska Native population, raising the demographic from 22% to 25% of the state’s overall population by 2025.

However, the drop in overall population is the first time during a set of projections in this time frame that a loss in Alaska’s state population was projected, Howell said.

“Our net migration losses are not made up for by what we refer to as natural increase, which is just births minus deaths,” Howell explained.

The data collected from the report, the department said, can help the state plan for the future. It can give Alaskans a better idea about how many residents will be driving on the roads, students in schools, and senior care needs.

That is especially important in this report, Howell said, where the data sees a trend of an increasing senior demographic.

“We need to get … those medical pieces in place for that population because we haven’t historically had a large senior population,” Howell said. “That will be a different level of medical care than they’ve needed in the past.”

At the same time, the state is seeing a lower birth rate, causing the population to lean older. That, combined with a negative net migration over the years, has caused a decrease in the working-age population.

“We need everyone. We need more people,” Gov. Mike Dunleavy said in his 2024 State of the State address earlier this year. “There’s no question about it, and encouraging pro-life policies that lead to more people having families and kids shouldn’t be controversial … Whether you’re a student of history or just a casual observer, we can’t have the kind of economic activity, growth, and technological advancements that have built civilization over thousands of years without an increasing population.”

“It is, of course, concerning that we are projecting a lower population for the future,” Adam Weinert, the special assistant for the state’s commissioner, said.

Weinert said that the Department of Labor and Workforce Development has been focusing on trying to engage with the youth population and encourage Alaskan residents to stay in the state.

“Engaging with our veterans, engaging with those who are new to the state is going to help us try to turn this population — to turn the population trend around,” Weinert said.

Ongoing efforts from the Department of Labor and Workforce Development include re-establishing the Office of Citizenship Assistance, creating partnerships with the Department of Defense, and creating career guides to work with youth.

Copyright 2024 KTUU. All rights reserved.

911 services across Alaska are back up and running after a software update from the popular cloud security provider CrowdStrike caused chaos and crashed computer systems around the world late Thursday night.

Alaska State Troopers reported late Thursday night that the outage had disrupted operations at “many” emergency and non-emergency call centers around the state. State troopers said 911 services across the state were back to normal as of about 6:45 a.m.

Across the country, the faulty software update disrupted health care providers, airlines and banks, among others.

The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities said the issue resulted in cancellations of seven Delta and United flights at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. State officials said Alaska Airlines flights were not disrupted by the outage.

Flight tracking website FlightAware reported 42 delays at Ted Stevens as of 1:30 p.m. Friday.

“Multiple airlines systems continue to be affected late into the morning, there is no projected timeline for when they will be operational again,” DOT&PF said in a statement.

State officials said the issue had delayed three flights at Fairbanks International Airport.

The operator of Alaska’s largest hospital, Providence Health and Services, said in a statement posted to its website that its IT teams worked overnight to respond to the issue and restore functionality to a key electronic health records system. But the nonprofit Catholic hospital provider said other systems, including clinical applications and workstations, continued to feel the impact of the outage as of noon Alaska time Friday.

A spokesperson said Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage was experiencing “operational challenges” as a result of the software glitch but said care was continuing.

“While we have organized an incident command to urgently restore all systems at the Alaska Native Medical Center and campus-wide, our emergency services and specialty clinics remain open,” Shea Siegert of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium said in an emailed statement. “Patients needing healthcare can absolutely come to the hospital or clinic for care. We are prioritizing solutions in clinical areas, using downtime procedures as needed, and continue to provide the highest level of patient care possible.”

Erin Hardin, a spokesperson for Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau, said the outage’s impact on their operations was limited, and that patients should not expect disruptions.

“Our daily operations are functioning normally,” she said. “We are learning of a few, I think, third party vendors that we do use that have been impacted, and so we’re learning about what some of those secondary impacts are. … That work is still underway, but our major operations are not affected.”

The outage also affected state courts, said Alaska Court System spokesperson Rebecca Koford, though the impacts were relatively minor.

“In some locations, things might have been a little slow to get started this morning, but no hearings were actually disrupted,” she said. “Everything was able to continue, but it might have required a little bit of extra patience today.”

State appeals court records were inaccessible online Friday morning but appeared to be functioning normally by midday. Koford said IT teams worked overnight to prevent wider impacts to court operations.

First National Bank Alaska said by email that its customers were not affected by the issue.

“Our internal Information Technology and Security teams, who monitor First National’s network 24/7, took immediate action to ensure all bank systems remained secure and operational, ensuring all customers experienced uninterrupted access to in-person and digital banking services,” said Senior Vice President Denise Brown Robinson.

CrowdStrike offered a workaround for the issue in a blog post on its website.

This is a developing story and may be updated.

Alaska Airlines (AS, Seattle Tacoma International) and Hawaiian Airlines (HA, Honolulu) have asked the US Department of Transportation (DOT) to approve the de facto transfer of Hawaiian’s international route authorities to Alaska Air Group as part of their merger process.

In a joint application, the companies also requested the reissuance of Hawaiian and Alaska’s international route authorities in the name of Alaska and/or Hawaiian. The DOT’s orders state that when two carriers that hold international route authority merge under common ownership, there has to be an approved de facto transfer.

Simultaneously, both companies requested the DOT grant Hawaiian an exemption to allow it to continue operations using its international rights once Alaska Air Group’s acquisition of Hawaiian Holdings closes.

Following the transaction, both carriers will continue to operate separately until their operations can be merged under a single operating certificate, and during this transition period Hawaiian will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Alaska Air Group, they stated. Even after they are under a single FAA certificate, the merged airlines will keep both brands, “retaining consumer choice while offering integrated and seamless loyalty benefits and customer service.”

In December last year, Alaska Air Group and Hawaiian Holdings agreed to merge in a deal that would see Alaska assume USD900 million worth of Hawaiian’s debt and Hawaiian shareholders receiving USD18 per share in cash.