Ten years of permanent fund dividends.

• Author: Woolam, Cami
• Position: Alaska Trends

This year's dividend, which Alaskan residents began to receive in October, was $1,654. This is the fourth largest dividend since the Alaska Permanent Fund began to pay out annual dividends in 1982. The largest dividend amount was in 2000--each Alaskan resident received $1963.86. Alaskan received $1,850.28 in 2001 and $1,769.84 in 1999.

The Alaska Permanent Fund was created in 1976, with the intent to better manage the revenues generated by the development of mineral resources, notably oil and gas. The dividend amount is calculated by taking 11.5 percent of the income generated by the fund over the last year, plus the income from the last four fiscal years. This amount is split into equal portions for...