"Marketing is not a function, it is the whole business seen from the customer’s point of view." – Peter F. Drucker.
Within marketing, demographics is defined as statistical data relating to the population and particular groups within it. Today’s post is about U.S. age demographics. Changes in age demographics are a gentle reminder of the steady change of your customer base. As seen in the graph below, it may be a good time to think about the current and future age demographics of both your customer base and employee hiring pool.
Here’s a breakdown of what the generational titles mean. It’s hard to think of millennials as being as old as 40, but they are…
This list shows the U.S. population in millions and breakdown by age:
· 21mm The Silent Generation were born between 1925 and 1945. They’re currently between 76-97 years old
· 71.6 mm Baby boomers were born between 1946 and 1964. They're currently between 57-75 years old
· 65.2 mm Gen X was born between 1965 and 1979/80 and is currently between 41-56 years old
· 72mm Gen Y or Millennials, were born between 1981 and 1996. They are currently between 25 and 40 years old
· 68 mm Gen Z is the newest generation, born between 1997 and 2012. They are currently between 9 and 24 years old
· 48 mm
Gen A: Generation Alpha is born starting 2012 and will continue at least through 2025, maybe later
I’m also including below a trend of 4 of these groups, done by Pew Research Center.
By 2025, Millennials are expected to account for three-quarters of the global workforce.
Baby Boomers have been the primary consumers for decades, but that torch is about to pass to people who are 20+ years younger — skipping over the smaller Generation X.
This shift is rapidly changing consumption habits, especially in the U.S. So if you see marketing targeting millennials, including nostalgia for 1990s video games, there’s a reason.
