Healthy lifestyle: how it is interpreted by different targets

July 2024

The 100 Healthy Days surveys a panel of people divided by age, with the aim of highlighting their behaviour and making useful comparisons to interpret the market in detail.

The Silver group is made up of consumers over 56; it therefore groups together the largest panel of contemporary societies which, in general, are ageing.
This dynamic is similar in Italy and Denmark.
The Silver segment has the highest propensity to spend and a good level of culture. They are travellers and have experienced the so-called technological revolution, demonstrating an excellent spirit of adaptation.

These individuals like to inform themselves and their level of social usage is sufficient.

The Contemporary are consumers aged between 40 and 50 and, in terms of numbers, constitute the second largest segment.
They have an excellent cultural level and a more reasoned spending attitude, both because they tend to be more informed and because their income is generally lower than that of the Silver.

The Contemporary are rather ‘digital’ and social people.

The Young segment includes people between 30 and 39 years old, similar to Millennials.
They are the ‘2.0’ consumers, i.e. the first generation born in the digital age, who buy mainly online and very frequently. Young people have a ‘global’, i.e. international, culture and generally use the English language in their daily lives. They have ‘instant’ and fast information, are very social and share their experiences online.

Finally, the Super Teen, the youngest segment (18-29 years old).
This is the generation born, and especially raised, in the age dominated by technology. The Super Teen are always connected to the web and social media, which they consider to be an integral part of their lives, and for this reason they are probably also the target group most subject to the sometimes untruthful information circulating online. They are digitally international and their cultural level is good and aligned with European standards.

For these four ‘generations’, what does ‘healthy lifestyle’ mean?

In both Italy and Denmark, all respondents give it a positive interpretation, i.e. they identify it with something that is good for you.

In Italy, although with slightly different percentages, all targets associate healthy lifestyle with the concepts of health, well-being and balance. The Silver and Contemporary also associate it with the idea of time spent in nature and in the open air, while the Young and Super Teen favour caring for the body and mind.

In Denmark, on the other hand, there is a rather peculiar interpretation of a healthy lifestyle: the majority of people equate it with setting a ‘good example’, as if the individual's virtuous conduct could serve as a model.

Silver, Contemporary and Young also have in common that they link the healthy lifestyle to a general concept of respect, including respect for the environment, while for the Super Teen it is synonymous with caring for the body.

Delving even deeper, in both countries all targets gave two main answers to the question ‘what is healthy behaviour in terms of actions?’: healthy eating (first place) and physical exercise (second place).

Italians also fairly homogeneously identify other virtuous ways of leading a healthy lifestyle, and all of them are very consistent with each other in terms of physical well-being: avoiding excessive eating, drinking at least two litres of water a day and living in contact with nature.

Only the Super Teens also add a good work-life balance. This figure is interesting, because also in Denmark the same target group considers time devoted to their hobbies and interests to be very important.

And remaining in Denmark, time spent in contact with nature and in the open air is also important for the Silver, while the Contemporaries place more emphasis on rigour, e.g. avoiding the use of alcohol and the consumption of junk food. And like the Young and Super Teens, they also believe that drinking at least two litres of water a day equals a healthy lifestyle.