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Over three-quarters of Americans say they are happy all (17%)
or most (61%) of the time. The most popular method of improving
mood is talking to a friend or loved one. See the chart below
for other methods.
Oftentimes, beliefs that individuals hold as "common knowledge"
are not based in fact, but on assumptions from personal experience.
Here are three such items disproved by statistics.
The chart below lists 2006 trends from the book Happy About
Knowing What to Expect in 2006, by Mitchell Levy. The author
combines prior trend forecasting knowledge with current input
from executives in various industries to create this outlook
for the coming year.
Phishing is a form of online identity theft that uses spoofed
emails, fraudulent websites, and crimeware of various types
to trick consumers into divulging personal financial data
such as credit card numbers, account usernames and passwords,
social security numbers, etc. Some 2,625 phishing sites were
active during February 2005. On average, they were only active
for 5.7 days. The number of phishing sites grew an average
of 26% each month from July 2004 to February 2005.
Over three-fourths (77%) of US adults believe that childhood
obesity is a major problem, with 86% agreeing that this epidemic
will lead to higher health costs for all Americans. Some 86%
say that the root problem is parents who do not pay enough
attention to their children's eating habits, while 68% cite
the food industry's advertising directly to children. Over
one-half (55%) say the government should play a more active
role in regulating the types of marketing and advertising
directed to kids. Eighty-three percent believe public schools
need to do a better job of limited children's access to snack
foods, sugary soft drinks and fast food.
Food consumption patterns have changed dramatically over
the past three decades, reports the USDA Economic Research
Service. The chart below shows many of the changes, with the
overall results meaning the typical American consumed approximately
18% more calories per day in 2002 than in 1970.
While there are many marketing channels, television reaches
more adults than any other advertising medium. Television
reaches 94% of adults daily, while radio reaches 73%, newspapers
59%, Internet 51%, and magazines 42%. The chart below shows
how much time men and women spend with the various media.
A 2004 study of junior and senior high school students found
that 17% of teens are receiving and reading advertisements
on their cell phones. This permission-only marketing tool
is expected to grow as marketers obtain more cell phones.
Other survey results are shown below.
A recent survey of 250 advertising and marketing executives
in the US shows that some are agitated by other's e-mail habits,
particularly the ones that end up wasting their time. The
two most cited annoyances were receiving unsolicited large
files, and being unnecessarily copied on "reply all" messages.
Others are listed in the chart below.
Bullets
- If the US minimum wage had risen as fast as CEO pay since
1990, the lowest paid workers in the U.S. would be earning
$23.03 an hour today, not $5.15 an hour.
- Sales of natural pet products totaled $527 million in
2004, up 75% from $302 in 2000.
- The number of consumers browsing personal ads on dating
websites dropped 33% in the past year.
- Over one-third (35%) of workers believe that being under
pressure at work helps their job performance; 24% say it
hurts.
- About 9.3 million Americans were victims of identity theft
during 2004, down 7.9% from 2003. In cases where the perpetrator's
identity was known, 32% were family members and 18% were
friends, neighbors or in-home employees.
- More than four-fifths (82%) of all discretionary income
is held by households earning $100,000 or more. The average
discretionary income for this population segment is $62,110,
about three times the overall US average of $21,657.
- According to The Education Trust, more than one-half of
college students take more than six years to complete their
Bachelor's degree.
- Color is most important to people when choosing clothes
(80%), home furnishings (79%), and cars/motorcycles (70%),
and least important when choosing personal computers (14%),
cell phones (17%) and car seats (31%).
- Only 25% of New York City residents are licensed to drive.
- The number of African American women-owned businesses
jumped 33% from 1997 to 2004.
- More than eight in ten Internet users (85%) have used
search engines, and 56% do so on any given day. Over two-thirds
(68%) trust search engines to be fair and unbiased sources
of information, while 19% place no trust in them.
- Parents say that having patience (36%) is the most important
quality of effective parents, followed by demonstrating
love (32%), enforcing discipline (22%), and being understanding
(22%).
- The number of funeral homes (22,000) and cemeteries (9,600)
has remained fairly stable over the past 20 years. Over
85% of funeral homes are independent businesses.
- The number of millionaire households in the US rose by
nearly one-third between 2003 and 2004 to reach 8.2 million.
- Income for the top 20% of American households (annual
income of at least $127,000) is growing twice as fast as
it is for the other 80% of households. This top 20% of households
are responsible for 40% of all consumer spending.
- According to the US Census Bureau, 7.8 million people
provided $40 billion in support to people living outside
their own households in 2002. About 60% was for children
under 21.
- The number of sex discrimination charges filed with the
Equal Opportunity Employment Commission increased 22% from
1992 to 2003. During this same period, pregnancy discrimination
complaints rose 39%, even as the US birth rate fell 9%.
- More than one-half (55%) of online Americans believe their
computers have been infected with computer spyware, and
82% are concerned with the threat this poses to their online
security.
- Most (93%) public school classrooms had Internet access
by 2003, representing tremendous growth from only 3% having
access in 1994.
- Eight in ten Americans (81%) have Internet access, up
from 50% at the beginning of 1999.
- One-quarter of employers fired employees for violating
company e-mail policies in 2004, up from 22% in 2003 and
17% in 2001.
- The United States, with just 5 percent of the global population,
generates 30% of the world's trash. Its garbage production
doubled over the last 30 years. The average American throws
away 4.5 pounds of rubbish daily, or 1,600 pounds per year.
- In 2005, 41% of hotel reservations were booked online,
up from 36% in the prior year. Of travelers who booked their
hotel reservations online, about two-thirds (68%) booked
them through the hotel's website instead of through independent
travel sites such as Orbitz or Expedia. This reflects a
17% increase from 2004.
- The most popular magazines for youth age 11-21 are US
Weekly (29%), Teen People (24%), In Touch Weekly (16%),
Teen Vogue (9%), Shape (6%), Maxim (6%) and Cosmopolitan
(4%).
- Youth, ages 8-21, spend about $22 billion per year online,
approximately 16% of their total spending. This same age
group spends another $20 billion on "clicks and mortar"
purchases - defined as buying items in traditional stores
after researching online.
- Almost one-half (46%) of all mobile phone text messages
are spam, compared to 18% in 2004.
- Internet service providers blocked 22% of permission-based
e-mail in 2004, thinking it to be spam.
- Between 14 and 15 million gays, lesbians and bisexuals
live in the US, representing 6-7% of the adult population.
Three-quarters (76%) watch cable television frequently or
occasionally, compared to 67% of heterosexual adults. Some
45% watch pay cable networks, compared to 37% of heterosexuals.
- An estimated 60-70% of processed foods on American grocery
store shelves contain genetically modified (GM) ingredients.
However, one-half (48%) of consumers are aware that GM foods
are available in stores, and a less than one-third (31%)
believe they have consumed them.
- The typical American eats twice as much salt as recommended
for a healthy diet. Most (80%) comes from processed and
restaurant foods, while the rest is added during cooking
or at the table.
- The number of surgical and non-surgical cosmetic procedures
in the US rose 44% in 2004, to nearly 11.8 million. Liposuction
was the most performed surgical procedure; Botox injection
the most popular non-surgical procedure.
- Over three-quarters (78%) of adults say that prescription
drugs have had a positive impact on the lives of Americans,
and 91% believe that drug companies make an important contribution
to society through their research and development of drugs.
However, 70% say drug companies put profits before people.
Overall, one-half of Americans have an unfavorable view
of drug companies; 44% have a favorable view.
- Nine in ten Americans like chocolate; 67% eat it regularly.
Retail sales reached $14.6 billion in 2004, up 4.4% from
the prior year.
- More than one-quarter (27%) of adults have received some
form of mental health treatment in the past two years.
- The proportion of American workers with employer-sponsored
health insurance coverage willing to trade a broad choice
of healthcare providers for lower out-of-pocket costs increased
from 55% in 2001 to 59% in 2003.
- An American child born in 2003 can expect to live 77.6
years on average, up from 77.3 the year before. In 1990,
life expectancy was 75.4 years.
- Radio frequency identification (RFID) is now a familiar
term with 41% of consumers, up from 28% in September 2004.
Two-thirds (68%) of these are aware how retailers plan to
use the technology and 67% are concerned that the information
collected will be used without their express permission.
- About 65% of US employees spend one to three hours reading
e-mails on an average workday, and another 12% spend three
hours or more.
- More than one-half of the US's 11 billion square feet
of office space is located in four downtown areas: New York
(29%), Chicago (10%), Washington, DC (7%), and Boston (5%).
- About nine in ten Internet users (87%) think that subscribing
to online newsletters will result in their being spammed.
- The number of Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) subscribers
grew 900% to almost 500,000 in 2004, up from 50,000 in 2003.
- Nine in ten business executives say age discrimination
is a problem in corporate America, and 63% believe it has
become more widespread in the last five years.
- About one-half (49.1%) of newsletter subscribers use their
e-mail programs' preview pane to read a few lines to determine
whether they want to open the e-mail, while one-third (32.9%)
read the entire message in the preview pane. About 15% will
read as much as they can in the preview pane without having
to scroll down.
- Forty percent of all Visa and MasterCard issuers have
a customer rewards program tied to their credit card offering.
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