Though fewer Wrangell residents died in 2022 than in 2021, and more babies were born last year to Wrangell moms than the year before, the longer-term numbers continue to show more deaths than births for the community, matching the downward trend in the population.
In the past six years, 128 babies were born, while 145 residents died between 2017 and 2022.
Statewide, there were fewer babies born in 2022 than in the previous year, extending a yearslong downward trend, according to the Alaska Vital Statistics 2022 Annual Report.
Births in Alaska topped 11,000 a year from 2007 to 2016 but have declined every year since then, according to state records. In 2022, there were 9,361 Alaska babies born, 739 fewer than in 2018, according to the report.
Births by Wrangell women fluctuated between 17 and 26 a year between 2017 and 2022. The annual state reports do not provide statistics for individual communities before 2017.
Deaths of community residents have averaged almost 25 a year since 2017, peaking at 30 in 2021.
Statewide, dangers from COVID-19 may be gradually fading, with fewer deaths in 2022 caused by the infectious disease that gripped the world, according to the state report. COVID-19 was recorded as the fourth-leading cause of death in Alaska in 2022, dropping a notch from third place in 2021.
Cancer, heart disease and accidents were the top causes of death in 2022, similar to pre-pandemic years.
Overall, there were 5,701 Alaskan deaths in 2022, fewer than the 6,220 in 2021 but higher than in the three years leading up to the pandemic.
In 2021, when the delta strain was dominant, Alaska had an age-adjusted COVID death rate of 106.4 per 100,000 people. That rate dropped significantly to 37.6 per 100,000 people in 2022, coinciding with the mutation from the delta strain to the less-severe omicron strain.
COVID-19 remains a serious threat to Alaskans and it is too soon to tell whether rates will continue to decline, the Department of Health said in an emailed statement.
“We don’t yet have enough data to know whether 2022 represents the start of a long-term decreasing trend or just a correction following a particularly lethal surge,” the statement said.
Close to 1,500 Alaskans died from COVID-related causes 2020-2022, according to state and federal statistics. The deadliest period in Alaska was in the fall of 2021. That year, more than 800 Alaskans died, with the number dropping by more than half in 2022.
Wrangell reported more than 750 COVID cases 2020-2022, before the state stopped collecting and reporting the data last year. The state reported one COVID-related death of a Wrangell resident.
The Alaska Department of Health annual report also showed that the average life expectancy for women in Alaska in 2022 was higher than that for men, 79.4 years compared to 74.5 years — similar to national statistics. By ethnic group, Alaska’s Asian/Pacific Islanders had the highest average life expectancy, at 82.3 years; Indigenous residents had the lowest, at 66 years.
Statewide, drug-induced deaths decreased slightly in 2022, according to the vital statistics report and a separate report specifically about fatal overdoses. There were 247 overdose deaths in 2022, slightly fewer than the 255 counted the year before.
Though Alaska’s overdose death rate declined in 2022, the fatality total in 2021 was 75% higher than in 2020, the sharpest rise among all U.S. states.
Despite the small decline in 2022, total drug-overdose deaths in Alaska last year remained significantly higher than those in the three years before 2021, Department of Health officials noted. As with COVID-19, “there’s not yet enough data to determine whether 2022’s decrease represents the start of a downward trend, or a temporary blip,” the statement said.
Among the babies born in the state, Oliver was the most popular name for boys, as was the case in some previous years. Other top names for boys were Liam, James, Theodore, Lucas and William.
For baby girls, one of the most popular names was fitting in a state known for its displays of the northern lights: Aurora, which tied with Charlotte at the top of the list. Other popular names for girls were Amelia, Emma, Evelyn, Olivia, Penelope and Scarlett.
Yereth Rosen, of the Alaska Beacon, contributed to this report. The Beacon is an independent, donor-funded news organization. Alaskabeacon.com.
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