STUDY: 78 Percent of Latin American Millennials Own Smartphones

Seventy-eight percent of Latin Americans “millennials” – people between the ages of 18 and 30 – own a smartphone, according to the results of the Telefonica Global Millennial Survey 2014, released here Friday.

The survey, presented at the Movistar MOVE mobile tech forum in Montevideo, surveyed 7,000 people in 18 countries, including 4,200 respondents in Latin America.

The relationship with new technologies among “the first generation of digital natives” reflects the overall trend in the region, where “70 percent of Internet users are under 35,” Lina Echeverri, director of public affairs for Telefonica Hispanoamerica, said at the event.

The survey found the number of millennials with a smartphone increased 10 percent over the previous year, indicating that “the technology continues penetrating all socio-economic strata in Latin America,” she said.

Latin American millennials reported using their smartphones mainly to navigate social networks and secondarily for texting and making calls.

Even so, these young people are very receptive to the new apps that emerge almost daily.

“Latin American millennials are very hopeful about technology, because they believe it can improve their lives and education,” according to Echeverri.

The survey also reveals ways in which Latin American millennials differ from their U.S. and European peers, she said.

Echeverri described the millennials of Latin America as “happy and optimistic young people who are betting on a better future and who believe they can change the world and have the tools to do it.”

Published in Latino Daily News