Quite frankly, it surprised me, too.  But when I saw the post, my next thought was how many people now own stocks or mutual funds in 401k's or in Roth or Normal IRAs.  This is a good thing as is coordinates investment into businesses, research, etc.  I assumed it was higher than "very few," but I was surprised at how high it is.  Then it occurred to me that once you factor out the under-18s or under-21s, who mostly haven't started any of that yet, then the ownership is really high.

An interesting example I've seen is in Singapore, where many colleagues work.  The are essentially forced to save for retirement this way, which rubs my sensibility slightly the wrong way.  That said . . . it's really, really worked for them.  Clearly the availability and allocation of capital has helped that city quite a bit.  It's really nice to visit.