Why is the Native American population so low?

At first contact, in 1492, we were 100% of the population of the western hemisphere. There were millions of us then. By 1900, approx 95% of our population had died off due to results from the contact with the foreigners. Whether sickness, war, starvation or whatever. Once the dominant society had us on our knees, they began to make rules for us to live by. Our children were taken from us by force and sent away to grow up and be educated and indoctrinated into the new way. Thousands of us died in those schools too, due to abuse by those responsible for us. My own parents were survivors of the boarding schools system. Our people would be forced to endure forced sterilization surgeries for any sort of legal infraction that put us again into the hands of the dominant society. So, we were forced to stop having children too. They wanted to make the term "vanishing race" a reality. Our lands were broken up and redistributed to non natives. Where do you think the "free land" the homesteaders got came from? Or the "40 acres and a mule" the black people got after the civil war? Those were ours. We were not citizens of the USA until 1924. We were not granted the 1st amendment right of freedom of religion until 1968. We could do 20 years for a sweat lodge ceremony, or a bear dance. Our people and our population began a resurgence starting in the 1970s. We learned to use the legal system and lawsuits to our favor. We won many things back in court, although never our lands. We won rights though, and now our people are no longer sterilized for misdemeanor infractions, our numbers are growing. We are now a little over 2% of the population, and increasing. We are educated and many of our best and brightest are lawyers now, ready to take on the govt again to maintain our identities and our rights.

The populations of many Native American peoples were reduced by the common practice of intermarrying with Europeans. Although many Indian cultures that once thrived are extinct today, their descendants exist today in some of the bloodlines of the current inhabitants of the Americas.

Native Americans in the United States are more likely than any other racial group to practice racial exogamy, resulting in an ever-declining proportion of indigenous ancestry among those who claim a Native American identity.

In Canada, at least, natives numbers are booming in fact.  They are currently the fastest growing group in Canada.  However, after their numbers were devastated by disease after contacts with Europeans, they had a LONG ways to go to catch up.

Someone made sure they couldn't survive for very long as a race. Survive and conquer was in the rear view mirror for the Indians.

I'd say poverty but blacks are poverty living and have huge groth numbers.

Also welfare incentivizes for people to remain poor and have more kids they can't afford. FACT

Native women have been sterilization programs since the 80s, is just one factor. FACT