Pressrelease

INDIAN YOUTH HAPPY, OPTIMISTIC AND FOCUSED ON THEIR CAREERS

Date: 21 Sept. 2007. Press conference at 3.30 PM. Seminar Time: 4 pm to 6 pm.
Venue: The Wheels, Hotel Taj Ambassador, Nr. Khan Market, Delhi

Presentation by: Dr. Mats Lindgren, CEO and founder of Kairos Future Group. Mrs. Anna Kiefer, Director of Kairos Future International.
Key note speech by: H.E. Lars-Olof Lindgren, Ambassador of Sweden to India

Young Indians are focused on their careers and are much more status-oriented than youth in Europe. These are two conclusions of the new survey “Global Youth” made by Kairos Future, an international research and strategy firm with headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden. With this project, Kairos Future extends its yearly youth values and lifestyle surveys in Sweden and Scandinavia to a truly international level. The survey covers 17 countries and India is one of them. The aim of the survey is to provide companies, authorities and organizations with strategic information concerning future consumers, employees and citizens.

Indian youth are happiest in the world!
Young middle-class Indians are the happiest people of all in the survey. They are much more satisfied with all aspects of their lives compared to the other nationalities. Over 50 percent of the young Indians are very content with their lives as a whole, which can be compared with pessimists such as the young Japanese or Germans, where only 17 and 27 percent respectively, are very satisfied with their lives. This satisfaction is also reflected in optimism about tomorrow.
- Indian youth are strikingly more optimistic about their own future and also about the future of society. The general picture in other countries is that young people tend to be personal optimists but societal pessimists, says Dr. Mats Lindgren, CEO and founder of Kairos Future Group.

Career and status are important…
In Europe, most young people seek a good living environment above all and work-related aspects in life are relatively less important. The priorities of Indian youth and young people in other “new economies” are different; for them it is work, a good career and a position with high status that are
important.

- The young Indians focus on work is also reflected in their values, they emphasize endurance, entrepreneurship and hard work, explains Mrs. Anna Kiefer, project leader of “Global Youth” and Director of Kairos Future International. But they also seek freedom and they want to be rewarded for their efforts, she adds.

Young Indians’ consumption behavior is also influenced by their status-orientation. For a majority, the right brand is more important than the price of a good and certain brands are perceived to be important for expressing one’s identity.

… while having children is quite unimportant!
Traditionally, the family is a strong focal point in the Indian society and even though it is important for young Indians, they show surprisingly little interest in having a family and children of their own.
- When asked about what constitutes a good life, there are many other aspects that are just as important, or even more important, than having a family and children, says Anna Kiefer. For example, feeling free, living and eating well and spending time with friends are more emphasized.

Perhaps the young Indians are too busy climbing the career ladder to have the time to think about their private life?

Economic growth – one key to optimism and happiness
One explanation behind the optimism of Indian youth is to look at the link between national economic growth and general optimism since they tend to be interconnected. In Kairos Future’s survey, those who have grown up in countries with rapid economic growth are significantly more optimistic and also
more satisfied with life in general. Young middle-class Indians are a good example of a generation who have seen their country’s economy grow, which brings more opportunities and possibilities for them than for their parents.

On our way to a global youth culture?
Could you talk about a global youth culture, just because young people buy the same clothes, watch the same TV-programs, share songs with each other, upload pictures at Flickr and share movies on Youtube? Hardly, young people differ, just like older generations, between countries and continents.

– But there are several signs of an emerging global youth culture, because young people in different countries are more similar than adults, says Mats Lindgren. In addition, youth differ the same way throughout the world. Hence, when middle-aged Indians, Americans and Swedes speak of young people as different, they have identical experiences of that “difference”, he adds.

About the survey
Kairos Future has during the period 1990-2006 surveyed and analyzed over 17 000 replies from Swedish and Scandinavian high school students aged 18-20. The latest survey “Global Youth” included over 22 000 replies from 16-29 year olds and 30-50 year olds in 17 countries in Europe, North-America and Asia. They have answered questions about dreams and ambitions, what is important in life and work life, what is their ideal society and what determines their consumption
patterns. The older age group is a reference sample that makes it possible to distinguish young people’s values from general contemporary values. The survey was web-based which means that the sample for e.g. India covers only middle-class youth and is not representative of the whole population.
The survey has been conducted in collaboration with the Swedish Institute, Fondation pour l’Innovation Politique (Fondapol) in France, The Swedish Region of Södermanland, Fortum, The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) in Taiwan and The Institute for Information Industry (III) in Taiwan. The data collection has been made in collaboration with Zapera.
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SELF-WILLED AND INDEPENDENT, BUT PREPARED TO WORK HARD

Today’s youth live in an increasingly globalized world, communication channels become wider and distances become shorter, but more and more young people trust only themselves and their loved ones. This is the conclusion of the new survey ”Global Youth”, made by Kairos Future, an international futures research and strategy firm with headquarters in Stockholm. The aim of the survey is to provide companies, authorities and organizations with strategic information concerning future consumers, employees and citizens.  

Quality of life and status – that’s what the young ones want
– Most young people in the world want quality of life and they choose a nice living environment to good work opportunities. However, the long-term trend is moving in the direction towards work with high status and good career opportunities, says Anna Kiefer, Director Kairos Future International and project manager of Global Youth.

Today’s youth prefer a job that they can leave when the working day is over. But the young Finns are an exception. Out of all seventeen nationalities in the survey, young Finns are the least interested in having a job with clear boundaries. The young Finns want a stimulating job and a position with a lot of responsibility but at the same time they consider their spare time to be very important for leading a meaningful life

The world’s youth believe it is important to get higher education. Seven out of ten 16-29 year olds want to study at university and one out of eight is going for a doctor’s degree, but they have different motivation factors. Young Scandinavians study to get a good job, while young Americans and Italians wish to make their families proud.

Finnish youth are self willed and independent…
Young Finns are independent, both individually and collectively as a nation.
- Young Finns feel closer to their compatriots than the average young European, perhaps a result of living in a buffer zone between East and West, says Anna Kiefer, Director Kairos Future International.

Compared to other Europeans, young Finns do not care much about what other people think of them and they do not find it important to look good. Only eight percent think it is important to live up to the expectations of others, compared to 42 percent on average in the EU countries! Furthermore, young Finns do not consider it their problem if they provoke others.

… but prepared to work hard!
But the young Finns are eager to work hard! They pay more attention to industrial society values such as endurance, thrift and obedience compared to their Scandinavian neighbors, where values such as curiosity and imagination are more emphasized.
- Young Finns seem prepared to work hard and they think it is important that society rewards individuals that have performed well, says Mats Lindgren, CEO Kairos Future Group.

On our way to a global youth culture
Could you talk about a global youth culture, just because young people buy the same clothes, watch the same TV-programs, share songs with each other, upload pictures at Flickr and share movies on Youtube? Hardly, young people differ, just like older generations, between countries and continents.

– But there are several signs of an emerging global youth culture, because young people in different countries are more similar than adults, says Mats Lindgren. In addition, youth differ the same way throughout the world. Hence, when middle-aged Indians, Americans and Swedes speak of young people as different, they have identical experiences of that “difference”.

About the survey
Kairos Future has during the period 1990-2006 surveyed and analyzed over 17 000 replies from Swedish and Scandinavian high school students aged 18-20. The 2007 Global Youth survey alone included over 22 000 replies from 16-29 year olds and 30-50 year olds in 17 countries. They have answered questions about dreams and ambitions, what is important in life and work life, what is their ideal society and what determines their consumption patterns. The older age group is a reference sample that makes it possible to distinguish young people’s values from general contemporary values.

The survey has been conducted in collaboration with the Swedish Institute, Fondation pour l’Innovation Politique (Fondapol) in France, The Swedish Region of Södermanland, Fortum, The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) in Taiwan and The Institute for Information Industry (III) in Taiwan. The data collection has been made in collaboration with Zapera.

For more information, please contact:
Sofia Johnsson, project coordinator
Tel: +46 70-531 94 74

STYLE CONSCIOUS ENTREPRENEURS EMBRACING GLOBALIZATION

Today’s youth live in an increasingly globalized world, communication channels become wider and distances become shorter, but more and more young people trust only themselves and their loved ones. This is the conclusion of the new survey ”Global Youth”, made by Kairos Future, an international futures research and strategy firm with headquarters in Stockholm. The aim of the survey is to provide companies, authorities and organizations with strategic information concerning future consumers, employees and citizens.  

Quality of life and status – that’s what the young ones want
– Most young people in the world want quality of life and they choose a nice living environment to good work opportunities. However, the long-term trend is moving in the direction towards work with high status and good career opportunities, says Anna Kiefer, Director Kairos Future International and project manager of Global Youth.

The world’s youth believe it is important to get higher education. Seven out of ten 16-29 year olds want to study at university and one out of eight is going for a doctor’s degree, but they have different motivation factors. Young Scandinavians study to get a good job, while young Americans and Italians wish to make their families proud.

Young Estonians strive for status and material possessions…
In general, young Estonians are status-oriented and it is important for them to look good! They value material possessions, to have a lot of money, to be in style and have a high status job to a much greater extent than other young Europeans, especially compared to youth in Scandinavia. However, at the same time they are conscious and thrifty consumers.

… and they plan to work hard to get there!
When young Estonians are asked about what values they want to pass on to their future children, they emphasize industrial society values such as hard work, self discipline, endurance and thrift to a much greater extent than other young Europeans do. Entrepreneurship is extremely important to young Estonians compared to young Europeans in general.

Creative values such as curiosity and imagination, which are very important for young people in Scandinavia, are among the least important values for the young Estonians!

- Young Estonians know that they will need to work hard and independently to reach their goals and it is very important for them to achieve a better living standard than that of their parents, says Dr. Mats Lindgren, CEO of Kairos Future Group.

Young Estonians believe in globalization but not in God
Estonia is one of the winners in today’s global competitive economy and young Estonians are enthusiastic about globalization. They think that globalization means new opportunities both for themselves as well as for national companies. They also have a much more positive attitude towards multinational companies than young people in most other countries. Yet, all is not sunny and bright; young Estonians are aware of the flipside of the last decade’s economic development. Drug abuse, aids and pandemics are threats that Estonian youth worry about to a greater extent than average young Europeans, but similarly to other Europeans, they feel that the greatest threat of all is environmental pollution. And they do not believe in God! Together with young Swedes, the young Estonians are the least religious in Europe.

On our way to a global youth culture
Could you talk about a global youth culture, just because they buy the same clothes, watch the same TV-programs, share songs with each other, upload pictures at Flickr and share movies on Youtube? Hardly, young people differ, just like older generations, between countries and continents.

– But there are several signs of an emerging global youth culture, because young people in different countries are more similar than adults, says Mats Lindgren. In addition, youth differ the same way throughout the world. Hence, when middle-aged Indians, Americans and Swedes speak of young people as different, they have identical experiences of that “difference”.

About the survey
Kairos Future has during the period 1990-2006 surveyed and analyzed over 17 000 replies from Swedish and Scandinavian high school students aged 18-20. “Global Youth” included over   22 000 replies from 16-29 year olds and 30-50 year olds in 17 countries. They have answered questions about dreams and ambitions, what is important in life and work life, what is their ideal society and what determines their consumption patterns. The older age group is a reference sample that makes it possible to distinguish young people’s values from general contemporary values.

The survey has been conducted in collaboration with the Swedish Institute, Fondation pour l’Innovation Politique (Fondapol) in France, The Swedish Region of Södermanland, Fortum, The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) in Taiwan and The Institute for Information Industry (III) in Taiwan. The data collection has been made in collaboration with Zapera.

For more information, please contact:
Sofia Johnsson, project coordinator
Tel: +46 70-531 94 74

BRITISH YOUTH – TYPICAL EUROPEANS WITHOUT EUROPEAN IDENTITY
Quality of life is crucial to today’s youth, and British youth is no exception! British youth have typical European values, but they do not feel European. These are two conclusions of the new survey ”European Youth in a Global Context”, made by Kairos Future, an international futures research and strategy firm with headquarters in Stockholm. With this project, Kairos Future extends its yearly youth values and lifestyle surveys in Sweden and Scandinavia to a truly international level. The survey covers 17 countries and the UK is one of them. The aim of the survey is to provide companies, authorities and organizations with strategic information concerning future consumers, employees and citizens.   
 
British youth work hard but only enough to be able to...
Career is not important to young Brits, but they think it’s important to work hard. They want jobs with clear boundaries and they do not think that an exciting and meaningful job is important in order to have a good life. 

– Profession is much less important as an identity shaper for British youth than it is for other young Europeans, says Dr. Mats Lindgren, CEO of the Kairos Future Group.
 
...enjoy pleasures in life!
The Brits are frustrated consumers; in no other European country does a higher share of the young express that they can never afford the things they really want and they want to be able to live and eat well.
 
Quality of life and status – that’s what the young ones want 
– Young people want quality of life, most of them choose a nice living environment to good work opportunities and they prefer a job that they can leave when the working day is over.
However, the long-term trend is moving in the direction towards work with high status and good career opportunities, says Anna Kiefer, Project Manager of ”European Youth in a Global Context”.

The world’s youth believe it is important to get higher education. Seven out of ten 16-19 year olds want to study at university and one out of eight is going for a doctor’s degree, but they have different motivation factors. Young Scandinavians study to get a good job, while young
Americans and Italians wish to make their families proud. 
 
European with hesitation
Do young people have a European identity? Is it feasible to say that young people feel European? With hesitation. Scandinavians belong to the few who feel closer to their neighbors than with the rest of Europe, other countries feel as close to their neighboring countries as to the rest of Europe. 

In general, the values of British youth are similar to the EU average. But they do not feel European. Most young Europeans feel close to other Europeans, but British youth do not. They feel even more distanced from Europeans than Chinese youth do! 

In fact, it is not only about Europe; in all other countries in the survey young people feel closer to their compatriots than to foreigners, but British youth differ.

– In the UK the Commonwealth prevails. More British youth identify strongly with people from Oceania than with their fellow countrymen, says Anna Kiefer.
 
On our way to a global youth culture 
Could you talk about a global youth culture, just because young people buy the same clothes, watch the same TV-programs, share songs with each other, upload pictures at Flickr and share movies on Youtube? Hardly, young people differ, just like older generations, between countries and continents. 
 
– But there are several signs of an emerging global youth culture, because young people in different countries are more similar than adults, says Mats Lindgren. In addition, youth differ the same way throughout the world. Hence, when middle-aged Indians, Americans and Swedes speak of young people as different, they have identical experiences of that “difference”. 
 
About the survey
Kairos Future has during the period 1990-2006 surveyed and analyzed over 17 000 replies from Swedish and Scandinavian high school students aged 18-20. “European Youth in a Global Context” included over 22 000 replies from 16-29 year olds and 30-50 year olds in 17 countries. They have answered questions about dreams and ambitions, what is important in life and work life, what is their ideal society and what determines their consumption patterns. The older age group is a reference sample that makes it possible to distinguish young people’s values from general contemporary values. 

The survey has been conducted in collaboration with the Swedish Institute, Fondation pour l’Innovation Politique (Fondapol) in France, The Swedish Region of Södermanland, Fortum, The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) in Taiwan and The Institute for Information Industry (III) in Taiwan. The data collection has been made in collaboration with Zapera.
 
For more information:
 
Visit our website: 
www.kairosfuture.com/en/international/projects/globalyouth
 
Or contact: 
Sofia Johnsson, Project Coordinator
Tel: +46 70-531 94 74 or thru e-mail