Site MenuConclusion – Generation Z: Portrait of a New Generation of Young Canadians and How They Compare to Older Canadians
This report offers a portrait of a new generation of young Canadians born after 1997: Generation Z. We focus on the social and political orientations of members of Generation Z who were eligible to vote for the first time in 2019 (youth aged 18 to 22) and those who will soon be of voting age (those aged 16 and 17). While looking at Generation Z on its own is interesting, we believe that the comparison of their positions, values and behaviours to those of older Canadians–Millennials, Generation X and the Baby Boomers–may be particularly informative. Today's youth will grow older, occupy a more important place in society, and ultimately replace older cohorts of Canadians. So knowing how much the members of Generation Z are similar to or different from previous cohorts of Canadians can inform Elections Canada and a variety of actors, including social, political and institutional actors, about how they need to pursue their work with Canadian youth, and citizens more broadly, in the years to come, so that they become politically engaged and participate in the electoral process. Based on the evidence produced, the institution can assess whether it needs to maintain or adapt its programs or, alternatively develop new approaches to communicate and reach out to Canadians, now and in the future.
Overall, Generation Z are mostly distinct from Generation X and Baby Boomers, and they share some orientations with Millennials. Also, our research indicates that GenZ is not homogeneous. Various particularities of those aged 16–17 are shown in this research. It is important to note these differences, as this age group will grow older and soon have the right to vote. To conclude the report, this section offers a summary of the main findings.
In terms of their socio-demographic background, Generation Z is more ethnoculturally diverse than previous generations, which may explain in part why they are more open to diversity. In terms of values and social orientations, they are less materialistic and a little less trusting of people in general.
When it comes to politics, members of Generation Z are quite distinct from other generations. They are more trusting of governments, less cynical about politics and more positive towards Canadian democracy, while identifying less with political parties compared with older groups of Canadians, which could be partly related to their limited experience with politics.
The youngest Canadians are also less engaged with politics. They are less knowledgeable about politics, less politically interested, follow the news less frequently and, similar to Millennials, are less confident about their ability to understand politics.
Generation Z's news consumption patterns are also quite similar to those of Millennials. Compared with Gen Xers and Boomers, they are more likely to consume news online (especially via social networks) and much less through print media or the radio. However, Gen Zers are distinct in that they tend to equally trust news published by professional journalists and news posted on social media, compared with all older groups of Canadians, who trust professional journalism more.
With regard to civic and political participation outside of elections, young Canadians are as active or more active than older Canadians, and in different ways. Younger Canadians lead the way in the use of public transit and raising awareness in their social networks to fight climate change. They are also more likely to share information about the environment online, much like Millennials. During the 2019 electoral campaign, both Gen Z and Millennials were more likely to use the Vote Compass to find election-related information.
Generation Z reported higher levels of engagement in their community through volunteering, donations, political and environmental protests. Like Millennials, they were more likely to sign petitions, boycott or buycott products, and share political information online, and less likely to contact public officials. But as expected, and consistent with past research, older Canadians still vote at higher rates in elections. Gen Zers were the least likely to vote in the last election–although the underage Gen Zers who were 16 and 17 years old at the time of the election display high intentions of voting. Several factors may help to explain the age differences in turnout, such as the fact that Millennials and Generation Z are less likely to believe that voting is a duty, to perceive voting as easy, and to be mobilized by political parties and candidates.
While we proposed several hypotheses in this report to explain some of the differences or similarities found between the generational groups, these remain hypotheses. In fact, panel data would be required to clearly identify which findings are due to cohort differences, to aging, or to period effects.