Tattoo statistics: ownership, regret and attitudes

How common are tattoos?

A 2023 Pew Research Center survey found that 32% of U.S. adults had a tattoo, including 22% with more than one.

A separate YouGov survey from March 31 to April 2, 2025 put current ownership at 24% among U.S. adult citizens. It surveyed 1,115 people. That population differs from Pew’s broader adult population, so the two results alone cannot establish a decline.

This article was published in September 2026. The figures retain their original survey dates. An older result does not become a new estimate because a page has been updated.

Each section identifies who was counted. Some questions cover all adults, while others cover only people with tattoos. A percentage without that distinction can give a very different impression of the result.

Tattoo ownership by age and gender

Adults aged 30–49 had the highest ownership rate among the age groups in Pew’s July 2023 results. The youngest adults were below that group.

Women were more likely to have a tattoo than men: 38% compared with 27%. Among women aged 18–29, the figure was 56%.

The survey measures age groups at one point in time. It does not follow the same people as they grow older or forecast their future choices.

How many tattoos do people have?

YouGov’s 2025 U.S. tables divide tattoo counts into ranges. These percentages use all surveyed adult citizens as the base.

Published percentages are rounded, so the rows need not total exactly 100%. The open-ended final category also prevents calculation of an exact average tattoo count from this table.

For a studio, a count of tattoos is a poor substitute for a count of appointments. One large piece might involve several visits, while several small pieces might be completed together. Booking records would be needed to answer questions about visits or hours worked.

Why people get tattoos

In Pew’s 2023 questionnaire, 47% of tattooed adults identified remembering or honoring someone or something as a major reason. Expressing a belief was a major reason for 22%, and improving appearance for 11%.

Respondents assessed each reason separately. The answers were not a single-choice contest, and a person could identify several reasons. These results also cover any of a person’s tattoos, rather than only their first or most recent one.

For an artist, the useful follow-up is specific to the client: what needs to be included, what can change, and what the design is meant to represent. A national survey cannot supply those answers for an individual appointment.

Tattoo regret and removal are different measures

Pew asked tattooed adults whether they ever regretted any of their tattoos. In July 2023, 24% said yes and 76% said no.

That measures people who report regret about at least one tattoo. It does not measure the percentage of all tattoos regretted, or the percentage of people seeking removal. Someone can dislike one piece while remaining happy with several others.

Regret, a consultation about removal, and a completed removal treatment should be recorded separately. Combining them would obscure what people actually reported or did. A studio collecting feedback should also distinguish a problem with the design from a problem with placement, execution, or the experience of the appointment.

Public attitudes toward tattoos in the U.S.

In YouGov’s 2025 survey, 37% of U.S. adult citizens viewed tattoos favorably, 26% unfavorably, and 35% were neutral. The remaining responses were unsure.

The same report found that 76% considered tattoo design a form of art. Acceptance varied by placement: 36% considered an arm tattoo always acceptable, compared with 22% for a hand tattoo, 15% for a neck tattoo, and 8% for a face tattoo.

The word “always” matters. People outside that answer category may accept a tattoo in some circumstances. Those figures should not be inverted into a claim that everyone else objects.

This was an online survey drawn from YouGov’s opt-in panel and weighted to represent adult citizens. It records opinions, rather than observed hiring decisions or a particular employer’s policy. A favorable view of tattoo art also does not tell us whether someone wants a tattoo themselves.

Great Britain: ownership and placement

YouGov surveyed 2,224 adults in Great Britain on July 5–6, 2022. Overall, 26% reported having a tattoo. Ownership was 29% among women and 22% among men.

The age breakdown was 19% for ages 18–24, 34% for 25–34, 38% for 35–44, 36% for 45–54, and 14% for those aged 55 and older. Here too, the youngest group did not have the highest rate.

Among respondents with tattoos, 34% reported an upper-arm tattoo, 26% a forearm tattoo, and 20% a wrist tattoo. These placement figures apply only to tattooed respondents. People could select multiple body parts, so the answers overlap.

The survey describes Great Britain. It should not be labeled a worldwide result or silently expanded to include Northern Ireland. Its age bands also differ from Pew’s, which limits direct comparisons between similarly named groups.

France: current tattoos versus ever having a tattoo

Ifop’s August 2018 survey for La Croix included 1,013 French adults aged 18 and older. It reported that 18% had experienced having a tattoo: 17% were currently tattooed and 1% had had a tattoo removed.

Among those under 35, the combined figure was 29%. For the full sample, it was 20% among women and 16% among men. Those figures include both current and former tattoo ownership.

The distinction is easy to lose when a number is copied into a chart. A label saying that 18% currently had tattoos would change the meaning of the published result. The current-ownership figure in that report was 17%.

Ifop used online questionnaires and quota sampling. These figures are a historical record from 2018, rather than an estimate for France in 2026. A present-day comparison would need newer evidence with a clearly stated population and question.

Italy: a national survey that included adolescents

Italy’s Istituto Superiore di Sanità, or ISS, reported tattoo ownership of 12.8% in a national survey completed in 2015. The sample contained 7,608 people and represented residents aged 12 and older. Including former tattoo owners raised the result to 13.2%.

Ownership was 13.8% among women and 11.7% among men. Respondents reported receiving their first tattoo at an average age of 25. An average does not identify the most common age or mean that most people started at exactly 25.

The population boundary matters here. This study included adolescents, while the U.S. and British surveys above focused on adults. Putting their headline percentages side by side without the age limits would hide a material difference.

The ISS webpage was updated in September 2024, but the survey described on it ended in 2015. The date of a webpage update and the date when people answered a survey are separate facts.

Germany: ownership and interest in another tattoo

A 2018 survey by Germany’s Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, or BfR, found that roughly 12% of respondents had or previously had a tattoo. Researchers interviewed about 1,000 people aged 14 and older living in private households by telephone.

Among respondents with a tattoo, 54% said they would get another. Among those without one, 7% intended to get one in the future.

These answers describe different groups and differently framed intentions. Neither percentage measures completed appointments. A stated willingness to get another tattoo can remain unfulfilled, and the survey does not assign it a booking date or a budget.

The result is also older than several other surveys on this page and includes people under 18. It is useful as a dated observation about the German sample, but cannot support a current ranking of countries by tattoo ownership.

How survey methods affect the numbers

Pew’s methodology for its July 2023 survey reports 8,480 respondents and a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 1.5 percentage points for the full sample. Interviews were offered in English and Spanish. Panel members without home internet access could receive a tablet and connection.

The study included extra respondents from some demographic groups to improve estimates for those groups. It then applied weights so the published results reflected their shares of the population. A raw count divided by the total number of responses therefore need not match a published weighted percentage.

The full-sample margin of error should not be attached automatically to a smaller subgroup. A result about tattooed adults or a particular age band uses fewer respondents and requires its own uncertainty estimate.

Sampling error is only one source of uncertainty. Question wording, who responds, how the survey reaches people, and how accurately they recall an experience can also affect answers. A large sample does not remove all of those problems.

How to compare tattoo statistics without changing their meaning

Before comparing two percentages, check the country, survey dates, minimum age, and definition of tattoo ownership. Then check whether both figures count all respondents or a subset. Matching the topic is not enough to make the measurements equivalent.

Use percentage points for a simple gap between rates. In a hypothetical survey, a rise from 20% to 25% is five percentage points. It is a 25% relative increase, because five is a quarter of the original twenty. Those descriptions answer different questions.

Keep overlapping answers separate. If respondents can choose both an arm and a leg as tattoo locations, adding the two percentages double-counts people who selected both. The same problem applies when people can choose several reasons for getting tattooed.

A reliable trend needs repeated measurements with sufficiently consistent methods. A collection of unrelated polls from different years can describe those polls, but the publication dates alone do not turn them into a growth series. None of the surveys collected here supplies a worldwide tattoo ownership rate.

What these figures can tell a tattoo studio

National surveys provide context for who gets tattooed and how people answer questions about it. They cannot tell a particular studio how many clients will book next month, what size of work they want, or which styles will pay the bills.

For those questions, keep a consistent record of inquiries, bookings, completed sessions, and repeat clients over a defined period. Separate a new client from a returning one, and a canceled booking from a completed appointment. That makes the figures usable when planning time and assessing demand.

If a studio publishes its own statistics, state the period and the number of clients or appointments counted. Explain whether a repeat client appears once or several times. Readers should be able to understand the result without guessing what the percentage represents.