American fitness club membership grew 2500 percent between 1972 and 2006

Evidence

In 1960, less than a quarter of Americans claimed to exercise “regularly”; by 1987, that percentage had nearly tripled. In 1972, 1.7 million Americans belonged to a fitness club of some kind. Fast-forward to 2006 and that number is a shocking 42.7 million—that is a growth of 2,500 percent! This has meant large returns for a number of market players: fees on club memberships hovered around 227 million in 1972; by 2023 that revenue topped 33 billion. — The Friends of Attention, Attensity!, 195

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

  • XREF: Provides a factual anchor for testing the manifesto’s wager that attentional wellness will parallel the fitness revolution.
  • QUESTION: Is the 2500% figure growth in membership or industry size? Worth checking the actual baseline before using it.