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“Normally, we think of sharers as young, urban, and hip," says John Burbank, president of Nielsen Strategic Initiatives. "It’s true that millennials make up half of those in the survey who said they’d be likely to rent things from others in share communities. But another quarter belong to generation X, and almost an eighth are baby boomers. They are as large a part of the story as under-20s.”

Some other big takeaways from the report: Most people share because of convenience and price, not an overwhelming desire to live sustainably. Still, they associate qualities like sustainability and community with sharing services more than they do with retail stores. Urban centers are more likely to contain people who have borrowed or lent vehicles and money, but this may be partially because cities have more 18 to 34 year olds compared to suburban and rural areas. The "neo-sharing" population could double over the next year, since there are nearly equal numbers of both recent and prospective sharers in all neo-sharing categories (transportation, money, etc.). Neo-sharers are slightly less likely likely to own a home or be married, but are more likely to have kids. They're also a bit more progressive than the general population (39% of neo-sharers in the U.S. are Democrat, compared to 34% of non-sharers and 29% of re-sharers). More than 90% of sharers surveyed said they would recommend the service they most recently used.