BTS ARMY Smashes The “Teen Fangirl” Stereotype With 2022 Census Receipts
BTS is beloved by millions of fans of all ages around the world. At concerts, you’re as likely to cross paths with a “dope old” person as you are a young fan.
Even so, ARMYs are still stereotyped as obsessive teenage fangirls. While there is nothing wrong with being a teenager and stanning BTS, teens only make up part of BTS’s enormous, global fandom.
The world leaders have no choice but to take BTS seriously. At the end of the day, BTS has one of the largest ARMYs on planet Earth. Historic moment, it actually marks the first time 15-year-old girls everywhere found themselves wishing they were Secretary-General Guterres.
— James Corden
Each year, The ARMY Census, an annual fan survey, collects new data to “spotlight the diversity that exists in the BTS fandom.” According to the 2020 ARMY Census, which surveyed over 400,000 ARMYs around the globe, fans under the age of 18 only made up half of BTS’s total fanbase. Fans aged 18-29 accounted for 42.59% percent of the fandom while 7.1% of surveyed fans were aged 30+.
Now, the 2022 results are in! Over the past two years, the percentage of ARMYs over the age of 18 has increased by 20.7%. The new results include fans who aged out of the under-18 category, but also plenty of fans who were not previously surveyed. This year’s census surveyed a total of 500,000 ARMYs, 100,000 more than the 2020 survey.
ARMY AGE COHORTS, FINAL RESULTS FROM OVER HALF A MILLION RESPONDENTS pic.twitter.com/nk2Z18eL3O
— BTS ARMY Census 💜🌍📊 (@ARMYCensus) July 10, 2022
The census includes other eye-opening statistics, such as when each surveyed fan became an ARMY…
We asked ARMY (from every social media platform) when they joined the fandom, and these were our results from the half million who responded: pic.twitter.com/R2mCMOzEEI
— BTS ARMY Census 💜🌍📊 (@ARMYCensus) July 11, 2022
…and gender percentages.
In short, you don’t have to be a certain age or gender to stan these seven kings, and it doesn’t matter when you joined the fandom. BTS (and K-Pop) is for everyone!
