I find it amusing that getting a tattoo is wrapped up with going overboard with drugs and other wild activity given their growing popularity. It seems a pretty tame way to "go wild."
Emerging from their often unsavoury reputation of the recent past, tattoos have gained increasing prominence in the past decade. Life magazine estimated in 1936 that 10 million Americans, or approximately 6% of the population had at least one tattoo. A Harris Poll, done in 2003, nearly triples those numbers and estimates that 16% of Americans now have one or more tattoos. For a complete breakdown of the Harris Poll numbers, see below.
Thirty-six percent of those ages 18 to 25, and 40 percent of those ages 26 to 40, have at least one tattoo, according to a fall 2006 survey by the Pew Research Center.
The National Geographic News stated in April 2000 that 15% of Americans were tattooed (or approximately 40 million people!)
Esquire Magazine estimated in March 2002 that 1 in 8 Americans was tattooed.
According to the American Society of Dermatological Surgery, they stated in 2005, that of all the people they treat with laser and light therapy, only only 6% are getting a tattoo removed.
Harris Poll, 2003, estimates that fully 36% of those aged 25-29 have one or more tattoos.
A 2006 a study done by the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology found that 24% of Americans between 18 and 50 are tattooed; that's almost one in four. And the survey showed that about 36% of Americans age 18 to 29 have at least one tattoo!
brunnhilde (of the "got a tattoo before I officially left" class