Home » 2009 » 06 » Narcotics Anonymous Membership Demographics

Narcotics Anonymous Membership Demographics

Membership in Narcotics Anonymous is voluntary; no attendance records are kept either for NA’s own purposes or for others. Because of this, it is sometimes difficult to provide interested parties with comprehensive information about NA membership.

There are, however, some objective measures that can be shared based on data obtained from members attending one of our world conventions; the diversity of our membership, especially ethnic background, seems to be representative of the geographic location of the survey.

The following demographic information was revealed in a survey returned by almost half of the 13,000 attendees at the 2003 NA World Convention held in San Diego, California:

* Gender: 55% male, 45% female.
* Age: 3% 20 years old and under, 12% 21–30 years old, 31% 31–40 years old, 40% 41–50 years old, 13% over age 51, and 1% did not answer.
* Ethnicity: 70% Caucasian, 11% African-American, 11% Hispanic, and 8% other.
* Employment status: 72% employed full-time, 9% employed part-time, 7% unemployed, 3% retired, 3% homemakers, 5% students, and 1% did not answer.
* Continuous abstinence/recovery: ranged from less than one year up to 40 years, with a mean average of 7.4 years.

Because no attendance records are kept, it is impossible to estimate what percentages of those who come to Narcotics Anonymous remain active in NA over time. The only sure indicator of the program’s success in attracting members is the rapid growth in the number of registered Narcotics Anonymous meetings in recent decades and the rapid spread of Narcotics Anonymous outside North America, drug rehabilitation.

* In 1978, there were fewer than 200 registered groups in three countries.
* In 1983, more than a dozen countries had 2,966 meetings.
* In 1993, 60 countries had over 13,000 groups holding over 19,000 meetings.
* In 2002, 108 countries had 20,000 groups holding over 30,000 meetings.
* In 2005, 116 countries had over 21,500 groups holding over 33,500 weekly meetings.
* In 2007, there are over 25,065 groups holding over 43,900 weekly meetings in 127 countries.

12-step programs can be a very important part of a person’s drug rehab or drug rehab treatment success. One study, sponsored by NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse) randomly assigned cocaine abusers into four groups, individual drug counseling plus group drug counseling(GDC), cognitive therapy plus GDC, supportive expressive therapy plus GDC, or GDC alone. Individual drug counseling was based on the 12-step philosophy. Group drug counseling was designed to educate patients about the stages of recovery from addiction, to strongly encourage participation in 12-step programs, and to provide a supportive group atmosphere for initiating abstinence and an alternative lifestyle. Nearly 500 patients participated in the study.

Related posts:

1. How to Choose an Addiction Treatment Center
2. Botox Now For Headaches

Home