Baby Boomer to Millennial, Gen X to Gen Z. Who can keep them straight anymore and do we really need to? First, let’s define who they are and then look at what I think is a pretty important audience that we need to be focused on.
- Baby Boomers: Born 1945 to 1965 – 65 million and declining in number
- Generation X: Born 1966 to 1976 – 66 million
- Generation Y or Millennials: Born 1977 to 1997 – 79 million
- Generation Z: Born 1998 or after – 74 million and growing
When we look at this Generation Z, we need to open our eyes if we are non-profits or charities. Whether we are looking for donations or sponsorships, this audience is critical—and it is different from the Millennials and Gen Xers! The oldest of this group are now in university or the workforce. They were raised mostly by Gen Xers and came into the work world in the great recession of 2008. They are thrifty, don’t like to spend money, and like to save more than spend! (Sounds like the parents of the Baby Boomers who are mostly gone now!)
Here are 21 statistics (based on USA information from the 2017 Global NGO Online Technology Report) that I came across when planning to write this.
Gen Z is expected to reach 2.6 billion globally by 2020. Within the U.S., Gen Z will reach 85 million by 2020, making up 24.7% of the American population and surpassing the Millennial generation.
- Gen Z is the most diverse ever. By 2020, over half of Gen Z will come from a minority
- 26% have raised money for a cause and 32% have donated their own money (or allowances).
- Children and youth, animals, and education are the top three causes to which Gen Z donates and align with.
- Gen Z receives an average allowance of nearly $70 a month or $44 billion a year in total.
- 59% of Gen Zs are inspired to donate to charity by a message/image they saw on social media; 45% by attending a fundraising event; 14% in response to an email.
- 57% of Gen Zs say they would rather save money than spend it immediately.
- 77% of Gen Zs are either extremely or very interested in volunteering to gain work experience.
- 26% of 16-19-year-olds already volunteer on a regular basis.
- While Millennials are digital savvy, Gen Zs are true digital natives. Gen Zs spend an average of 3.5 hours a day on their smartphones and cannot remember a time before the internet or social media.
- The average age of a child getting their first smartphone is now 10.3 years.
- Gen Zs get their first social media accounts at an average age of 11.4 years.
- The most popular social media with Gen Zs are YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram, in that order.
- 70% of Gen Z visits YouTube daily.
- Gen Zs have an average attention span of eight seconds compared to the 12 second attention span of Millennials.
- 47% of Gen Zs believe voting is important (even though the majority are not yet old enough), but only 26% trust elected officials.
- 70% are worried about terrorism. Symptoms of depression and anxiety are way up among Gen Z. So are reports of self-harm.
- Gen Z believes that climate change is the biggest challenge facing the world in the next decade. 63% favour solar energy. 58% have recycled. 31% have boycotted a company that has hurt the environment.
- 43% of 7-13-year olds feel that school violence/shootings will have the biggest impact on their generation, overriding the invention of social networking and the election of the first black president.
- 56% of Gen Zs in the United States know someone who uses gender-neutral pronouns. They are the most tolerant generation ever of gender diversity.
- 50% of Gen Zs will be university educated compared to 33% of Millennials and 25% of Gen Xers.
Be aware of this demographic, and if you haven’t already started planning for it, you better catch up quickly!
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