EMBARGOED UNTIL: 12:01 A.M. EST, FEBRUARY 15, 2001 (THURSDAY)
Public Information Office CB01-27
301-457-3030/301-457-3670 (fax)
301-457-1037 (TDD)
Glenn King/Lars Johanson
301-457-1171
New Edition of Statistical Abstract Shows Boom in Internet Sales
Online consumer spending jumped from $7.7 billion in 1998 to
$17.3 billion in 1999, a 124 percent increase, and was expected to reach
$28 billion in 2000, according to the Statistical Abstract of the United
States: 2000 released today by the Commerce Department's Census
Bureau.
"The biggest categories for online spending in 1999 were air travel and
personal computers, followed by books," said Lars Johanson, technical
coordinator of the compendium, which was named one of the "Best 100
Documents of the Century, 1900-99," by a nationwide panel of librarians
and the Government Printing Office. It has been published every year since
1878.
The Abstract features 78 new tables covering topics that range from
prescription drug sales, charter schools and home remodeling to the
e-business sales.
Highlights from the 1,012 pages and 1,458 tables in the 2000 Statistical
Abstract include:
-- Between 1995 and 1999, the percentage of public schools with Internet
access increased from 50 percent to 95 percent. In 1999, a ratio of
2 out of 3 public school teachers used computers or the Internet for
classroom instruction.
-- Expenditures on drugs and other medical nondurables by consumers "out
of pocket" and through private health insurance increased from
$53 billion in 1990 to $103 billion in 1998. Private health insurance
accounted for 24 percent of such expenditures in 1990, but 46 percent
in 1998.
-- Federal Medicaid grants to state and local governments went from $41
billion in 1990 to a projected $116 billion in 2000 -- an increase of
183 percent.
-- Civil rights-related complaints in U.S. District Courts increased
from 18,793 in 1990 to 42,354 in 1998, a 125 percent increase over
eight years.
-- State prison operating expenditures per prisoner varied widely in
1996 from about $22 per day in Alaska to more than $103 in
Minnesota. The national average was $55.
-- In the year leading up to spring of 1998, 5.5 million households had
remodeled their bathrooms; 4.6 million had redone their kitchens and
3.0 million had made improvements to their bedrooms. Other popular
home remodeling projects were carpeting (4.9 million households),
roofing (4.7 million) and adding a deck, porch or patio (2.2 million).
-- New truck sales exceeded new car sales for the first time during the
1999 model year, representing 50.1 percent of all motor vehicle sales.
-- In the year leading up to the spring of 1998, 55.7 million adults had
played a game of cards, 32.1 million had tried their hands at a
crossword puzzle and 24.2 million had played a video game.
The 2000 edition reinstates a scaled-down version of the Industrial
Outlook section, with tables updated to 1998. A new section features
21 tables from the 1997 Economic Census, which is the first census to use
the new North American Industry Classification System.
The 2000 Statistical Abstract is available from the U.S. Government
Printing Office (ISBN No. 003-024-08857-6, $39 for the softbound cover and
No. 003-024-08858-4, $48 for the hardbound) by calling 202-512-1800.
It is also available from the National Technical Information Service
(ISBN No. PB2000-965801NJE, $34 for the softbound cover and No.
PB2000-965301NJE, $43 for the hardbound) by calling 1-800-553-6847.
A CD-ROM version of the book will be available in early 2001.
available free from Adobe.
