Alaska's infant mortality rate was 6.8 per 1,000 live births for the year ending with December 2000. The abortion ratio was 15 per 1,000 women in 1966.
Alaska's overall death rate of 468.4 per 100,000 population in 2000 was slightly more than half the US rate, but the death rate from accidents (55.1 per 100,000) was one of the highest in the US and higher than the national rate. The suicide rate of 22.0—the highest in the country—was over twice the national rate of 10.7. The commercial fishing industry has one of the highest occupational fatality rates in Alaska; during the early 1990s the annual occupational fatality rate for the fishing industry was 200 per 100,000 workers. The fatality rate for the shellfish industry was 530 per 100,000 in that period. Among Alaskan adults age 18 and older, 25% were current smokers in 2000. The death rate of 27.3 per 100,000 for cerebrovascular diseases was significantly lower than the national rate of 60.9, due to the relative youth of the state's population. Deaths due to heart disease were also much lower (97.6 per 100,000 population) than the US average of 258.2. The HIV incidence rate was 13.03 per 100,000 in 1995. There had been 495 AIDS cases reported through 2001.
Alaska's 19 hospitals in 2001 had 1,442 beds and 49,065 admissions; hospital personnel included 1,983 registered nurses in 2001. The average daily expense to Alaskan hospitals per inpatient day amounted to $1,447 in 2001. Alaska had only 194 physicians per 100,000 population in 2000, as compared to the national average of 288.
In 2002, 15.7% of the Alaskan population was uninsured. Federal government grants to cover the Medicare and Medicaid services in 2001 totaled $436 million; 43,815 enrollees received Medicare benefits that year. Alaska's Pioneer Homes, operated by the state's Department of Administration, are residential facilities for Alaskans over 65 (with at least one year of residency in the state) that offer five levels of care from independent living to full medical care, including Alzheimer's units. As of 1997, a total of 600 residents were being served at six locations.