Who is Gen Z?

Post Millenials, better known as Gen Z, are usually defined as those born after 1995 up until 2012. In India, the year 1995 also marks the entry of the internet for the masses, thus making this batch of young people the first digital natives of the country. This shift is almost radical, with earlier generations having little or nothing to do with the internet.

This generation is born into a post economic liberalisation era for India. Liberalisation changed the nature of the Indian economy and brought in unprecedented levels of foreign investment. It is also important to note that this generation grew up during a financial crisis (the global recession of 2008), noticeable climate change, and most recently a global pandemic.

A Bloomberg report from 2019 states that India's Gen Z population stands at 472 million, with 200 million of these (under 18) living in urban areas. With the Indian population falling across a huge spectrum of accessibility, geography and economic differences it is unfair to bucket this entire generation within the same traits. While they share several commonalities, most obviously access to the world wide web, the urban, peri urban and rural Gen Z have varying behavioural patterns based on the circumstances of their upbringing, such as community, language and consumption patterns.

As the saying goes, there is nothing one can say about India without its opposite being equally true.

Method

Originally, a project to uncover trends around Gen Z in India for a global brand, the data collection for this work was conducted primarily through desk research, in the form of reports, qualitative articles, digital dipsticks amongst others. Recent survey based reports on Millennials and Gen Z’s helped validate many of our hypotheses. Our own studio's work on understanding adolescents across mental health, sexual and reproductive health awareness, entertainment, consumer trends also creates the foundation for this work.

About Quicksand

Quicksand is a multi-disciplinary design research and innovation consultancy that places human-centered design principles, collaboration, and exchange at the core of our work. Our practice is founded on a delicate and nuanced process of handling collaboration. Our methodologies and philosophies are context-specific, organic, and constantly evolving.

We investigate, imagine & co-create meaningful futures.

Get in touch with us at hello@quicksand.co.in