Pine Ridge Indian Reservation

The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is an Oglala Sioux Native American reservation located in South Dakota. Pine Ridge was established in the southwest corner of South Dakota on the Nebraska border and consists of 3,468.86 sq mi (8,984.306 km²) of land area, the eighth-largest reservation in the United States, larger than Delaware and Rhode Island combined.

Although Pine Ridge is the eighth largest reservation in the United States, it is also the poorest. Unemployment on the reservation hovers between 80% and 85%, and 49% live below the Federal Poverty Level. Adolescent suicide is four times the national average. Many of the families have no electricity, telephone, running water, or sewerage system. Many families use wood stoves to heat their homes. The population on Pine Ridge has among the shortest life expectancies of any group in the Western Hemisphere: approximately 47 years for males and 52 years for females.

Despite the lack of formal employment opportunities on Pine Ridge, a considerable agricultural production is taking place on the reservation, yet only a small percentage of the tribe directly benefit from this. According to the USDA, in 2002, nearly $33 million in receipts from agricultural production on Pine Ridge. Less than one-third of that income went to members of the tribe.

excerpt from wikipedia.com