Is a GDP growth rate of three percent in an ageing country (US), with a median age of 37, more attractive to a businessman than a GDP growth rate of 10 percent in a youthful country (India), where the median age is 24? With over a billion people, of whom more than 500 millions are under the age of 24, the vast pool of youth in India will provide the critical market for growth to take place. With half its population under 24, India has an edge in its ability towards driving the world’s growth. In comparison, the comparable market size of those under 24 for China is much smaller. The median age of the Chinese population is 34. For the European countries collectively, their median age of 40 makes them a rapidly ageing society where the dynamism that fuels growth will quickly be extinguished. In the Central, Eastern and Western Europe, the high median age, coupled with a net population replacement rate that is negative, means the population is being laid threadbare. This means that the seriousness with which one might have viewed the European markets has diminished, if not evaporated. What makes India’s youth market worth studying is evident; one of the world’s hottest economies, more than a billion people, roughly half of them under the age of 24 years, and rising purchasing power. The potential of the youth market is comprised of more than 100 million consumers in the 15 to 24-year-old age group. For marketers, it is a goldmine and a case study-in-progress of democratic capitalization. With rapidly growing purchasing power, 15-24-year-olds present a marketing target that is both tantalizing and confusing.
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