This does, however, represent an increase of 16.5 percent from the 1990 Census when the teen population was 20.1 million or 8.0 percent of the total U.S. population. American Demographics estimates the population of teens will increase annually until 2010, as the children of baby boomers get older. In addition, today the number of dual-worker families has increased from 44.5 percent in 1993 to 64.5 percent in 1997. Hence, teens are playing an increasingly prominent role in the ever-changing American household. An additional advantage to teens spending is that it is almost entirely discretionary - they are not saddled with a mortgage, car payments or tuition that effects the spending of adults.
Teens have a lot of money to spend and have strong ideas on what to spend it on.
Teens are also trendsetters, most notably among fashion items. Until the age of 25 the male population is larger than the female population. During the school year 39 percent of all teens between the age of 15-17 work an average of 18 hours each week. Today teens spend on average 51 minutes a day doing homework, down from 70 minutes a decade ago. Teens have spent more years in a formal education setting than any previous generation.