Hong Kong's youth live a fast and furious life and are multi-tasking and digital driven consumers.

A survey of 7,200 Asians aged between 8 and 24 shows that today's younger generation in Hong Kong has a faster lifestyle than its peers in Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, India and the Philippines.

"The pace of the Hong Kong youth's life is intense. They eat more fast food, download more entertainment and transact more online than elsewhere. They are ravenous users of the Internet, read magazines and watch television (programs) voraciously, focused about their looks, clothes, celebrities and brands, and are driven by success and money," said Betty Wu, associate director of Synovate Hong Kong, which conducted the survey.

But, Wu said, Hong Kong's youth are also socially aware and highly family-oriented.

"While the local youth are a savvy group of consumers, having their eyes on new technology and digital information, they have not lost sight of important values and speak of having a family and relationship as one of their cherished goals."

The survey's findings suggest that Hong Kong's youth aspire to be wealthy, successful and educated, with those aged between 8 and 14 hoping for careers in the government or the medical sectors and the 15-to-24 age group preferring business ownership.

The territory's youth are also focused on financial stability, with 26 percent worrying about their ability to find a good job and 23 percent concerned about finance. Family and relationships are a worry for 11 percent.

Results of the study confirm that Hong Kong's youth are the most ardent consumers of digital information, with 78 percent in the 12-to-24 age group naming the Internet as the most helpful medium for product and service information.

Across the region, 71 percent of the interviewees use mainly the Internet to search for information, with the figure being 82 percent for the territory's youth.

More than 45 percent use the Internet to access interactive communication, with 42 percent downloading entertainment products online.

A substantial 61 percent of the local respondents aged between 12 to 24 said they had read some celebrity magazine or the other in the past three months, showing an above average interest in entertainment.

Local youngsters are a brand-conscious bunch, for whom Sony is the favorite laptop computer and digital camera brand, Nokia the most preferred mobile phone and Nike the best sports shoemaker.

Hong Kong's youth have a considerable say in their family's consumption choice, for 61 percent play a role in choosing the pay-TV services, 80 percent influence the family's fast food outlet choice and nearly half help decide the vacation trips.

For leisure activities, the survey found that movies are still the staple pastime, with 69 percent having been to the cinema in the past six months. About 28 percent had visited a museum or art gallery and 24 percent had seen a play or visited a theatre during the same time.

Wu said: "Hong Kong's marketers need to be aware that they are a smart group of consumers, with one eye on the present and the other firmly on the future."

(China Daily HK Edition June 30, 2005)