KEY FINDINGS NEWSLETTER
July/August 2004 Issue

Baby Boomers as Elders
According to USA Today, Baby Boomers will become the wealthiest group of elders in history. By 2030, the year that the last of the Boomers reaches age 65, the number of Americans age 65+ will reach 71.5 million, double the 35.6 million today. They will also control 40% of disposable income and 77% of private investments.

Personal Comfort
Personal comfort is extremely or very important to 76% of Americans - more than time (70%), money (70%), success (53%), or fame (12%). Men and women have different ideas on what comfort means to them as shown in the chart below.


Opinions About Americans
Residents of both Canada (60%) and Europe (48%) have higher opinions than Americans (44%) do of US films and TV programs, according to a recent Harris Interactive survey. However, as the chart below shows, the approval ratings are much lower on many aspects of the US.


Most Americans Disapprove of Globalization
Almost three-quarters (73%) of Americans support the growth of international trade in principle, but 53% do not like the way the government is expanding it. Forty-one percent say that trade barriers are being lowered too quickly, up from 30% in 1999, while 31% think trade barriers are being lowered at the right pace, down from 39%. 

Four in ten (39%) know someone who has lost a job or suffered business losses due to globalization, while 17% know someone whose situation has improved due to the growth in international trade.

Internet Users Getting Creative
Almost one-half (44%) of adult Internet users have created content for the Internet by building or posting to websites, creating blogs (online diaries), and sharing files. The following chart indicates the most popular activities.


Hospitals Increasingly Offering CAM
The number of hospitals offering complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) services doubled from 8% in 1998 to 16.7% in 2002, and another 24% plan to provide them in the future. Reasons for this include patient demand (83%), organizational mission (69%), clinical effectiveness (61%), and attracting new patients (58%). 

The services most commonly offered in hospital-based CAM centers include massage therapy (78%), stress management (40%), yoga (37%), relaxation techniques (32%), pastoral counseling (29%), acupuncture (21%), and biofeedback (20%). Some 13% of hospital pharmacies offer herbs or supplements

Small Business and Brands
Almost nine in ten owners of small and medium size businesses (87%) say that once they have a positive experience with a brand, they develop a long-term relationship with it. Service history is cited as the most important factor in deciding to use a brand for 82% of small and 75% of medium businesses. Small businesses are defined as those with fewer than 100 employees; medium-sized ones have 100-499 employees.

Honesty and Ethics of Professionals
Eighty-three percent of Americans believe nurses are the most honest and ethical professionals. The chart below shows how other highly rated professionals fared. Professions receiving the lowest marks include car salesmen (7%), HMO managers (11%), insurance salesmen (12%), and advertising practitioners (12%).


US Healthcare Performance Comparison
While the US spends more money per capita on healthcare, and devotes a greater proportion of its national income to it than any other country, the US system performs relatively poorly from a patient perspective, according to The Commonwealth Fund. The study compared the US system with those in Canada, UK, Australia, and New Zealand. 

For example, twice as many adults (18%) in the US as in the UK (9%) reported that a medication or medical error had a serious health consequence. US patients (18%) say they waited five days or more for an appointment with a doctor, compared with UK (16%), Australia (5%), or New Zealand (1%). Compared with patients' experiences in other countries, more US patients report being sent for duplicate tests (22%) and having the test results fail to reach their doctors' offices in time for appointments (25%). The US also scored the worst on every measurement that reviewed whether low-income patients receive needed care.

Researching Purchase Decisions
When US adults begin research for a purchase decision, 30% first turn to advertising inserts or circulars for information. The chart below shows other sources referenced during the last several years.


Bullets

  • Some 69% of people believe that the rich get richer while the poor get poorer, 60% say that people with power try to take advantage of others, 56% believe that what they think doesn't count, and 46% feel the people running the country don't care what happens to people like them.

  • In the November 2000 election, 55% (111 million people) of the voting-age population voted. Of those registered to vote, 86% exercised their right.

  • About two-thirds (64%) of Americans believe they'll go to heaven when they die. Another 5% say they'll come back as a different life form, and 5% believe they will simply cease to exist. About 1% expect to go to hell. The other 24% say they have no idea what will happen when they die.

  • The fastest growing outdoor sports from 2001 to 2002 are scuba diving (22.2%), kayaking (19.1%), surfing (18.7%), mountain/rock climbing (16.7%) and snowboarding (13.2%).

  • Overall, Hispanic consumers spend 61% of their TV time watching Spanish-language programming and the other 39% on English programs.

  • Two-thirds (66%) of US households own cell phones and spend an average of $60 per month on their cell phone plans.

  • The 38% of Americans who had no health insurance at some time during 1996-1999 included 50% of African Americans and 61% of Hispanics.

  • Three-fourths (74%) of Americans think that there was a cover-up regarding the assassination of John F. Kennedy. However, only 20% think this should be investigated again.

  • Six in ten American children age 6-14 say they would be willing to give up all their holiday gifts in exchange for world peace.

  • Only 5% of American men regularly wore a suit to the office in 2002, down from 14% in 1997.

  • Almost two-thirds (63%) of Americans hold the mistaken belief that wine and beer contain fewer carbohydrates than spirits such as tequila, gin, vodka and whiskey.

  • Spending on apparel fell 18% between 1990 and 2001.

  • Six in ten affluent people ($150,000+ annual income and $500,000+ investable assets) say they have grown happier as their wealth has increased. However, regardless of their level of wealth, most believe they need more money than they currently have in order to feel secure about their financial futures.

  • More than one-half (57.5%) of the US's 17,000+ coffee houses are independently owned.

  • About 80% of Americans will stop to pick up a penny on the street, but 13% say they won't take one that is heads-down since it is considered unlucky.

  • Two in ten visitors to political websites say that the sites have changed their opinions on issues or candidates.

  • One-half (53%) of teens age 13-19 go online every day, with 73% going online five or more days per week. The most popular activities are sending email (82%), instant messaging (72%), doing schoolwork (71%), and playing online games (65%).

  • Almost one-half (48%) of gays and lesbians say they feel comfortable introducing their same-sex partner to coworkers, up from 32% in 2003.

  • The aggregate income of African American women represents 49% of the total income of the African American population, while Hispanic and White women account for only one-third of aggregate incomes in their respective segments.

  • The typical American travels 14,500 miles per year.

  • Married Internet users (52%) are more likely to make online purchases than are single users.

  • A recent survey by Accenture found that 80% of physicians are most influenced by information they read in clinical journals. Other sources are industry associations and meetings (34%), sales representatives (30%), colleagues (27%) and the Internet (16%).

  • The proportion of adults who drink alcohol has remained steady at about 60% since 1992. However, 66% of these are regular drinkers today, up from fewer than 50%.

  • French fries are the most commonly consumed vegetable by toddlers age 19-24 months; 25% eat no fruits or vegetables.

  • Reasons for unscheduled absences from work include personal illness (36%), family issues (22%), personal needs (18%), an entitlement mentality (13%) and stress (11%).

  • Healthcare bureaucracy cost the US $399.4 billion in 2003 and accounted for 31% of the total US healthcare spending. By comparison, paperwork accounted for 16.7% of Canadians' healthcare bills.

  • The 44% of Americans with chronic medical conditions account for 78% of all healthcare expenditures.

  • About 84 million households or 80% of all households have at least one credit card. Credit card debt per each card-carrying household has grown steadily from $2,966 in 1990 to $8,940 in 2002. These households have an average of 16.7 credit cards total, including 6.0 bank credit cards, 8.3 retail credit cards and 2.4 debit cards.

  • Eight in ten consumers age 13-18 have downloaded music from the Internet during the past year, and 34% paid for at least one download. Two in five downloaders say they would be willing to pay for downloads, with 44% preferring a subscription service and 38% choosing a pay-per-song approach.

  • Two-thirds (63%) of adults say they would want to donate their organs to someone else if they were killed in an accident; 62% would sign a consent form for an organ donation if their son, daughter or spouse were killed.

  • Fewer than one-half (45%) of internists in private practice are willing to accept new Medicaid patients.

  • Almost 90% of Americans say they would like to take personal action to prevent the overconsumption of energy. Fifty-four percent are motivated primarily by environmental concerns and 46% by the opportunity to save money.

  • Today, households headed by someone age 50 or older account for one-half of all disposable income in the U.S. However, only 10% of advertising is currently directed to this age group.

  • Generation X's level of debt is 78% greater than the Boomer generation's was when they were age 25-34. Boomer's debt level at age 25-34 was 38% greater than that of their elders.

  • The number of employers offering traditional defined benefit retirement plans fell to 45% in 2003 from 83% in 1990.

  • More than one-half (56.7%) of spam emails originate in the US.

  • Between 1997 and 2002, an average of 424 new women-owned businesses were started every day. This accounted for 55% of all new business start-ups.

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