Gen Z is optimistic about future financial stability despite national crises in housing affordability, student loan debt, poll shows

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Dec 13, 2022, 08:04 ET

–In an international survey of more than 7,000 13-25-year-olds, Yubo found Gen Zers in the U.S. are confident in their future home-buying power, plan to marry, and have kids amid inflation, rising interest rates

–While optimistic in the long term, an overwhelming majority of Gen Z today does not trust or believe in traditional institutions like government and higher education

NEW YORK, Dec. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- In a poll of users in three of its largest international markets – the United States, the United Kingdom, and France – Yubo, the live social discovery app, found that a majority of its Gen Z users between 13 and 25 years old are optimistic about the future despite inflation, rising interest rates, a lack of trust in government leaders, and climate change.

Gen Z is optimistic about future financial stability despite national crises in housing affordability, student loan debt, poll shows

Roughly 99 percent of Yubo's users are Gen Z, putting the platform in a unique position to understand today's largest new demographic group. Yubo regularly engages its user base through in-app polls and consistent feedback, allowing it to remain in lockstep with Gen Z's interests, habits, and preferences and evolve the platform constantly to meet their needs.

Yubo's latest poll, conducted Nov. 18, garnered responses from a total of 7,173 users – 3,236 in the U.S., 2,701 in the UK, and 1,866 in France. Across the board, a majority of respondents across five age brackets making up Gen Z indicated they believe they will marry one day, become parents, and be able to buy a home or apartment. These results run counter to mainstream reports that say younger generations believe they will postpone or altogether forego marriage and parenthood and that they uniquely suffer from financial instability.

Despite their long-term optimism, however, present-day issues are top of mind for Gen Z. Even the youngest among the age group (13 to 14 years old) report having felt the negative impacts of inflation, while most in the generational group also report grappling with feelings not fitting in.

The following were additional insights drawn from the November survey.

FINANCIAL

Future Home-Buying: 93% of respondents in the U.S. said they believe they will be able to afford to buy a house or apartment in the future, despite mounting evidence of a housing affordability crisis across the country. (In the UK and France, sentiments around future home-buying power were similarly positive. Cost of living in the three regions is among the highest in the world, according to recent indices.)
Impact of Inflation: Nearly 80% of U.S. users polled said inflation has personally impacted them. Results in France and the UK mirrored those in the U.S. – 69% and 75% of poll participants in those markets, respectively, reported having personally experienced negative impacts of inflation.
College Education: Only 36% of respondents said they feel a college degree is necessary to "be successful and achieve the life [they] want." Older users in the Gen Z age group (20 to 25 years old) were more likely to say college degrees are not necessary, compared to younger users in the same generation.

SOCIAL

Online Friendships: 75% of users in the U.S. said they have met someone online who has become a close friend, with similar results in France and the UK, where 69% and 73%, respectively, said they have met a close friend online. A majority of poll participants in the U.S. also said they feel more comfortable making friends online (59%).
Marriage and Parenthood: 80% of U.S. poll respondents said they want to get married someday, while 81% also said they want to be parents in the future. A majority of poll participants in France and the UK said they, too, want to marry and be parents. (Research and surveys conducted in recent years have reported that Gen Z, like Millennials, is postponing traditional life milestones, such as marriage and child-rearing, typically in favor of work and leisure or due to financial constraints.)
Government Trust: 53% of users polled in the U.S. said they do not "trust their government leaders to look out for their best interests." In a similar vein, a majority (76%) also said social justice movements are important to them.
Climate Change: An average of 81% of respondents across the three regions surveyed said climate change is a pressing issue.

All poll results across regions and age groups are available, upon request. Yubo is able to ensure users' ages on the platform are accurate through robust age-verification technology, implemented this year for 100% of users in partnership with leading digital identity provider Yoti.

"Yubo believes that the best way to continually improve how we help our users connect authentically to one another is to learn about them by speaking with them directly through surveys and regular feedback channels," said Yubo CEO Sacha Lazimi. "There are always misconceptions about new generations, and we appreciate being able to play a part in lending greater context to what Gen Z feels are the challenges and opportunities ahead of them."

ABOUT YUBO
Yubo is a live social discovery app making it easy for Gen Z to expand their social circles and hang out online with new friends from around the world. By eliminating likes and follows, we empower young people to show up as their true selves and connect as authentically as they would offline. Safety is a cornerstone of our platform, and we are proud to be the first social app in the world to introduce comprehensive user-age verification tools and real-time video and audio moderation for livestreams. Founded in France in 2015, Yubo today is used across more than 140 countries by over 60 million users. Visit us at yubo.live to learn more and follow our journey.

Media Contact:
Debora Lima, Yubo U.S. Media Director
[email protected]

SOURCE Yubo