| EFFECTIVENESS;
MEMBERSHIP DEMOGRAPHICS |
 |
| No
comprehensive surveys of Narcotics Anonymous membership have
been completed to date, due especially to NA's emphasis on protecting
the anonymity of the members. However, it is possible to offer
some general, informal observations about the nature of the
membership and the effectiveness of the program, observations
believed to be reasonably accurate. |
| Male/female
ratio |
| Of
the 5,000 NA members responding to an informal poll taken in
1989: 64% were male, 36% were female. |
| Socioeconomic
background |
| The
socioeconomic strata represented by the NA membership varies
from country to country. Most national ovements are founded
by members of one particular social or economic class, but as
their outreach to the entire range of the drug-addicted population
in each country becomes more effective, the membership becomes
more broadly representative of all socioeconomic backgrounds. |
| Age |
| Of
the 5,000 NA members responding to an informal poll taken in
1989: 11% were under 20, 37% were between 20 and 30, 48% were
between 30 and 45, 4% were over 45. |
| Religious
backgrounds |
| All
religious backgrounds are represented among NA members. In a
given national movement, the membership generally reflects the
diversity or homogeneity of the background culture. |
| Rate
of growth |
| Because
no attendance records are kept, it is impossible even to estimate
what percentage of those who come to Narcotics Anonymous ultimately
achieve long-term abstinence. The only sure indicator of the
program's success 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. In 1978,
there were fewer than 200 registered groups in three countries.
In 1983, more than a dozen countries had 2,966 meetings. In
1994, we knew of groups holding 19,822 weekly meetings in seventy
countries. |
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