Author Archives: admin

Registered Voter Population

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On election day we look back to the last national election day to measure the size of the voting population in the United States. Worth noting is the fact that 2010 is a congressional election year but not a presidential election year. Throughout our history, voter turnout has been higher in presidential election years than in midterm election years.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2008
Market size: Number of voting age citizens: 206.1 million
Market size: Number of registered voters: 146.3 million
Market size: Number of people who actually voted: 131.1 million or 63.7% of citizens of voting age and 89.7% of the registered voter population.
Source: “Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2008,” Current Population Reports, May 2010, available online here. This is a most interesting report, full of details about the voting age population in 2008, measured and assessed by a number of demographic aspects: age, educational attainment level, race, ethnicity, gender, etc.
Original source: U.S. Bureau of the Census

Dentistry

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After a holiday celebrated by the indulgence in candy, it seems only right to take a look at the market for dental services. Over the period 2002 to 2007 the number of establishments in the United States offering dental services grew by 7.5%, from 118,305 to 127,033. Employment in those offices grew at a faster rate, from 743,628 to 825,869, or 11%. So we had more offices that were on average slightly larger in 2007 than in 2002. The largest area of growth for these establishments was in their revenue, which grew 32.5% over this same period.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2002 and 2007
Market size: $71.1 billion and $94.2 billion respectively
Source: “2007 Economic Census: Sector 62: Health Care and Social Assistance Programs: Preliminary Comparative Statistics for the United States 2007 and 2002,” March 26, 2010, available online here.
Original source: U.S. Bureau of the Census

Halloween Market

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The size of the market for all Halloween holiday spending is rather hard to measure as it incorporates many things: candy, snacks, costumes, pumpkins, scary decorations, etc. The results of a much-quoted survey undertaken by the National Retail Federation are what we present here. They represent an increase of 17% over estimated spending on Halloween in 2009. Shall we take this as a good sign, a sign of people feeling freer to spend money on nonessentials?

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2010
Market size: $5.8 billion
Source: “Halloween Spending Expected to Rise this Year,” Kansas City Star, October 11, 2010, available online here.
Original source: National Retail Federation

Hydroelectric Power Market

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Over the period 2002 to 2007, the cost of energy rose steadily, as did the revenues generated by those companies in the business of extracting (in the case of fossil fuels), processing, moving, storing, and selling energy. For that reason, it is surprising to see that hydroelectric power generation in the United States actually saw a decline in revenues, as well as employment over the period. In 2002 the hydroelectric power generation industry employed 6,360 people and in 2007 it employed only 3,795.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2002 and 2007
Market size: $2.73 billion and $2.24 billion respectively
Source: “2007 Economic Census: Sector 22: Utilities: Preliminary Comparative Statistics for the United States 2007 and 2002,” July 31, 2009, available online here.
Original source: U.S. Bureau of the Census

Number of Books in the World

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Books as far as the eye can see

This, of course, is a somewhat unusual sort of market size item but it is an actual estimate produced by Google as part of its overall effort to try to digitize every book in existence. For details about how this count was done, what was included and what was not, check the link below to a blog post by a Google engineer involved in the project.

Geographic reference: World
Year: 2010, as of August 5th
Market size: 129,864,880 books
Source: “All the Books in the World,” LOCUS, September 2010, page 11.
Original source: Google. For details, here is a link to a blog post explaining the estimate.

Market for Art Instruction

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The market for fine arts instruction has grown quite substantially over the last decade or so. In 1997 there were 1,009 establishments in the United States engaged primarily in offering instruction in the fine arts. By 2007 that number had risen to 11,478. The Census Bureau’s definition of this industry is as follows: “This industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in offering instruction in the arts, including dance, art, drama, and music.”

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 1997 and 2007
Market size: $388.5 million and $3.25 billion respectively
Source: “2007 Economic Census: Sector 61: Educational Services: Industrial Series: Preliminary Comparative Statistics for the United States 2007 and 2002,” July 31, 2009, available online here. The data for 1997 were taken from the “1997 Economic Census.”
Original source: U.S. Bureau of the Census

Cement Made in Russia

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The transition from the Soviet Union to the smaller Russian Federation was a tumultuous one for the society at many levels. On the economic front, it caused many Russian industries to wither for a time, even those concentrated within the old geographical boundaries of what is now the Russian Federation.

The shrinking of the Russian cement manufacturing capacity during this period can be seen clearly in the two years’ worth of market size data presented below. From 1990 to 2009 the Russian annual cement production reached a nadir of 26 million metric tons (Mt). The Russian cement market is now experiencing a sort of renaissance, according to the source, due in large part to the advantage it has with regard to its sizable energy reserves.

Geographic reference: Russian Federation
Year: 1990 and 2009
Market size: 85 million Mt and 44 million Mt respectively
Source: “Russian Cement Market: History and Outlook,” Global Cement Magazine, October 2010, page 44.

Language Schools

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The size of the market for foreign language instruction has seen a significant rise in the United States over the last decade. This is likely the result of the growing globalization of economic activity. The size listed here is the size of the revenues obtained by establishments primarily engaged in the teaching of foreign languages, including sign language.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 1997 and 2007
Market size: $75.34 million and $857.96 million respectively
Source: “2007 Economic Census: Sector 61: Educational Services: Industrial Series: Preliminary Comparative Statistics for the United States 2007 and 2002,” July 31, 2009, available online here as well as the “1997 Economic Census” data on the same industry.
Original source: U.S. Bureau of the Census

Driving Schools

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The ability to drive an automobile is an important part of living in the United States. This is true everywhere other than a few large cities in which mass transit offers a practical option for getting around. Yet the training of young people to drive, which was once done by public schools, has been privatized. Slowly, school district by school district, this service has been outsourced to private firms and students in these districts must now pay a significant fee to be trained to drive.

In 1997 there were 56 establishments primarily engaged in offering automobile driving instruction in the United States. By 2007 that number had risen to 2,261 establishents. Businesses engaged in training truck drivers are not included in this number.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 1997 and 2007
Market size: $30.4 million and $638.1 million respectively
Source: “2007 Economic Census: Sector 61: Educational Services: Industrial Series: Preliminary Comparative Statistics for the United States 2007 and 2002,” July 31, 2009, available online here as well as the “1997 Economic Census” data on the same industry.
Original source: U.S. Bureau of the Census

Raisins in Afghanistan

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The Afghan raisin farming business is returning after being decimated several decades ago when war arrived in that country, disrupting everything. At its peak, Afghanistan produced 86,000 metric tons of raisins annually, equivalent to 10% of the world production of the dried fruit. Today, the Afghan market represents 3% of the world’s production of raisins.

Geographic reference: Afghanistan
Year: 2008 and 2009
Market size: Approximately 27,500 metric tons each year.
Source: “New Hope for Afghan Raisin Farmers,” The New York Times, October 9, 2010, page B1.

Commercial Casinos

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Commercial casinos represent just over a third of the total gambling and gaming industry (37%). Indian casinos—which are counted separately and are not part of the commercial casino market as presented here—are a somewhat smaller portion of the overall gaming business but still represent 28% of that market. The size of the commercial casino industry listed here includes deepwater cruise ships and other waterborne casino operations.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2007
Market size: $34.41 billion, gross gambling revenue
Source: “Gaming Revenue: Current-Year Data,” available online here.
Original source: Christiansen Capital Advisors LLC

Gambling & Gaming Business

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Measuring the market for gambling and gaming is tricky because of the variety of activities covered. Some studies will include aspects of the gaming industry that other studies exclude, an example being state run lotteries. Consequently, one sees citations that vary greatly about the size of the gaming business.

The measurement presented here is from the American Gaming Association, a trade association and lobbying group with offices in Washington, DC. This market size is based on gross gambling revenues for all of the following gaming types: Card Rooms, Commercial Casinos, Charitable Games and Bingo, Indian Casinos, Legal Bookmaking, Lotteries, and Pari-Mutuel Wagering.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2007
Market size: $92.27 billion, gross gambling revenue
Source: “Gaming Revenue: Current-Year Data,” available online here.
Original source: Christiansen Capital Advisors LLC

Payroll Services

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Over the decade from 1997 to 2007 companies involved in providing payroll services saw the market for those services increase greatly. The number of establishments offering these services in 1997 was 2,709 and they employed 316,425 people. In 2007 there were 4,842 establishments employing 549,594 people.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 1997 and 2007
Market size: $14.1 billion and $28.7 billion respectively
Source: “2007 Economic Census: Sector 54: Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services,” December 4, 2009, available online here as well as the “1997 Economic Census” data on the same industry.
Original source: U.S. Bureau of the Census

Title Abstract and Settlement Services

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Part of the real estate build up over the last decade or so can be seen in the substantial growth of title abstract and settlement offices in the United States. In 1997 there were 6,391 such companies and in 2007, right before the bursting of the real estate bubble, there were 8,013. The size of the market in terms of the work done and the revenues generated saw even greater growth over this period.

The Census Bureau’s definition of this industry reads as follows: “This U.S. industry comprises establishments (except offices of lawyers and attorneys) primarily engaged in one or more of the following activities: (1) researching public land records to gather information relating to real estate titles; (2) preparing documents necessary for the transfer of the title, financing, and settlement; (3) conducting final real estate settlements and closings; and (4) filing legal and other documents relating to the sale of real estate. Real estate settlement offices, title abstract companies, and title search companies are included in this industry.”

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 1997 and 2007
Market size: $3.49 billion and $7.60 billion respectively
Source: “2007 Economic Census: Sector 54: Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services,” December 4, 2009, available online here, as well as the “1997 Economic Census” data on the same industry.
Original source: U.S. Bureau of the Census

IBD Drug Market

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IBD stands for Inflammatory Bowel Disease. An estimated 1.2 million Americans suffer from IBD. Leading brand name drugs designed to treat this disease include Asacol HD, Shire Lialda, Shire Pentasa and Prometheus Entocort EC.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2009
Market size: $1.56 billion
Source: “Santaris,” January 11, 2010.
Original source: IMS Health

Lice Treatments

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With recent news about the reemergence of a bedbug infestation, we are reminded that the little pests that infest our lives from time to time must be dealt with over and over again. Lice are such pests and while not spoken of very often, the size of the market for lice treatments suggests that many battle these little pests in silence, behind closed doors.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2009
Market size: $65.88 million
Source: MMR, April 19, 2010, page 69.
Original source: SymphonyIRI

Vitamin Supplements

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Multivitamin tablets, powders and liquids dominate this category with 55% of the total vitamin supplement market. Vitamin B is the second largest category with 13% followed by vitamin C which represents 11% of the market.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2008
Market size: $8.5 billion
Source: National Foods Merchandiser, September 2009, page 22.
Original source: Nutrition Business Journal

Allergy Treatments

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The size of the market for drugs to treat allergies has fallen during the first decade of the 2000s. The likely reason for this decline in the value of sales is not a decline in the number of people suffering from allergies, rather it has to do with the fact that generic drugs have come onto the scene to compete with the leading name brand drugs. This was possible because the patents on several of those name brand drugs expired in the middle of the decade.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2003 and 2007
Market size: $7.5 billion and $5.1 billion respectively
Source: Medical Marketing & Media, May 2008, page 64.
Original source: IMS Health

Antipsychotic Drug Market

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Just two decades ago antipsychotic drugs were a minor part of the overall pharmaceutical business. Today, according to The New York Times article from which this market size was taken, antipsychotics lead all other drug classes in term of revenue generated. One’s first thought upon reading this may be that we must be getting way more psychotic but it turns out that these strong drugs are now prescribed for a much broader range of ills.

The top-selling brand of this drug category is Seroquel, produced by AstraZeneca. Other leading brands include Abilify, Geoden, Leponex, Risperdal and Zyprexa. Some of these drug names may be familiar to you even though they are prescription drugs and even though you may never have used one. That has to do with direct-to-consumer advertising (DTC advertising) which was made legal in the United States in 1997. Since then, we have all become far more educated about brand name prescription drugs. Interestingly, only one other nation in the world (New Zealand) allows the direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2009
Market size: $14.6 billion
Source: The New York Times, October 3, 2010, page B1.

Pumpkins… for the Season

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This market size is based on estimates of the overall national market that appeared in an article about the 2010 crop in the State of Michigan. Michigan’s pumpkin production represents approximately 13.5% of the national pumpkin crop.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2010
Market size: $66.7 million
Source: “State Rolling in Pumpkins in 2010,” The Detroit News, September 23, 2010, available online here.