• Spent more than $172 billion in 2001, equal to Mexico's yearly exports.

• Average expenditures: $104/week; $5,408/year.

• Teens surveyed by Teenage Research Unlimited reported spending 98 percent of their money, rather than saving it.

• Children's spending has roughly doubled every 10 years for the past three decades, and tripled in the 1990s.

Source: www.faircredit.org