Nearly All Millennials in Mexico Use Social Media, Instant Messaging

Millennials are indeed Mexico’s digital trendsetters. This vast group, which eMarketer defines as individuals born between 1981 and 2000, represented roughly one-third of the country’s population of 119.7 million in 2014, according to Consejo Nacional de Población (CONAPO). The government agency, responsible for population projections and planning, based these projections on 2010 census data collected by Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI). In total, 40.5 million millennials lived in Mexico last year.

Though millennials represent one-third of the overall population, more than half of Mexico’s internet users and mobile phone users belong to this group. Moreover, eMarketer estimates members of this generation account for roughly two-thirds of smartphone users and social network users in the country.

While our Mexico millennial-specific estimates are not regularly produced, age breakdowns are available. eMarketer predicts the number of internet users and smartphone users in Mexico ages 12 to 34 will reach 37.3 million and 21.8 million, respectively, in 2015. By comparison, the respective overall bases in those metrics will reach 65.1 million and 34.2 million this year.

Communication is indeed essential to millennials in Mexico, so it makes sense that they have embraced media and devices that empower their ability to connect with others. According to Mexico City-based research firm The Competitive Intelligence Unit (CIU), nearly every millennial ages 20 to 30 said they used social networks (96%) and instant messaging services (95%) in 2015. Smartphones, a device closely tied to greater usage of instant messaging, was cited by 57% of respondents.

While CIU’s definition of millennials is narrower in terms of age, its findings are in line with those of other sources.

Back in July 2014, the first-ever eMarketer webinar in Spanish pointed out the central role that communications play in the digital lives of millennials in Mexico. According to the latest publicly available data (2013) from multiple sources—including Ipsos OTX and Ipsos Global @dvisor, Garritz Online Media, Interactive Advertising Bureau México (IAB México) and the AMIPCI (Asociación Mexicana de Internet)—nine out of 10 millennials were email users, three-quarters were on social networks and two-thirds subscribed to instant messaging services.

Courtesy of eMarketer