Bullets

• The top New Year’s resolutions this year were “to enjoy life more” (67%) and “to spend more time with family and friends” (59%). In prior years, dieting and weight loss typically made the top spots.

• Almost one-third (31%) of young adults age 18-24 think they will have accumulated at least $1 million by age 60.

• The top five worries keeping men up at night are fear of aging, own weight, wife’s weight, career and personal finance. Women worry about personal finance, world issues, children, friends’ health and fear of aging.

• When asked to pay for a previously free service online, American internet users found a free alternative (50%), stopped getting that information or service online (36%), or paid for it (12%).

• Today, 33% of households own DVD players, up from 20% at the end of 2000. Eighteen percent of Americans say it will never be worthwhile to purchase one.

• Most (80%) women and 83% of teenage girls think their mother is beautiful. Only 72% of sons think so.

• Almost 6.9 million Americans took cruise vacations in 2000, up from 5.9 million in 1999.

• Over 72,000 family farms disappeared between 1993 and 1999, a decline of 8%.

• The residential cleaning (maid or cleaning service) market grew from $942 in 1995 to $1.66 billion in 1999.

• Two million American fathers (8%) stay home with the children while the mothers work.

• On average, men say they have 9.9 close friends; women have 9.2.

• Almost three-quarters (73%) of teens age 12-17 use the Internet. Most of these (94%) use it when doing research for school projects.

• One-quarter (25%) of children’s free time is spent playing today, compared to 41% in 1981.

• While one out of every four women in the U.S. is obese, only three out of 100 female network television characters are obese. Thirty-two percent of female and 12% of male television characters are underweight, compared to 5% and 2%, respectively, of real people.

• The number of widowers in the U.S. age 65 and older reached almost 2 million in 2000, up from 1.3 million in 1980.

• Most gay men and lesbians (90%) are out to their friends, 80% to their families and 65% are out at the office.

• When asked where they would like to live, 35% of Americans say they would prefer a rural area, 20% a suburb of a big city, 15% a small city, 12% a town, 9% a suburb of a small city and 8% a big city.

• During 2000, about 5.5 million motorcycles were registered in the U.S.; 12% of these were in California. Almost 30% of all motorcycles are in four states: California, New York, Texas and Illinois. Registration growth in Texas and Louisiana is in excess of 60% since 1987.

• More than 85% of Americans read at least one book during 2001. The mean number of books read was 14.5.

• During 2001, 70% of Americans took a vacation away from home.

• Nineteen percent of Americans traveled outside of the U.S. in 2001.

• Many (68%) of young people age 15-25 have searched online for health information; 39% say they changed their behavior based on their findings.

• When asked how important work is to them, 19% of Americans said “extremely important,” 55% said “very important,” 23% said “somewhat important,” 2% said “not too important,” and 1% said “not important at all.”

• The number of document destruction companies has grown from about 20 in the early 1980s to around 500 today.

• One-half of college students graduate with outstanding student loans; the average amount is $19,400.

• Almost one-third (32%) of women and 26% of men wear a fragrance at least six days a week.

• Almost one-third of the U.S. workforce regularly works more than the standard 40-hour week. About one-fifth works more than 50 hours in a typical week.

• Almost six in 10 workers (59%) have experienced a romantic relationship with a coworker. One-third of all romances start in the workplace.

• Just over one-quarter (26%) of the population was under age 18 in 2000. This proportion is expected to remain steady for the next 20 years.

• On average, Americans eat ice cream 2.2 times per week. One-half (51%) eat it at least once a week while 6% never consume ice cream.

• Over one-third (38.6%) of sales executives think their salespeople are underpaid.

• Premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance rose 11.0% in 2001, compared to an increase of 8.3% in 2000 and 4.3% in 1999.

• Almost half (48%) of employer-covered workers are enrolled in a preferred provider organization (PPOs), up from 41% in 2000 and 28% in 1996. During 1996, 31% were enrolled in health maintenance organizations (HMOs), compared to 23% today.

• Purchases of diet aids (diet pills and meal replacements) jumped from $753 million in 1996 to $1,947 million in 2001.

• Between 1947 and 2001, the percent of Americans who say alcohol has caused trouble in their family jumped from 15% to 36%.

• Men get an average of 5.7 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night, compared to 5.2 hours for women.

• The most popular month for starting a diet is March; January is the least popular.