This post introduces Warc's new article series 'New Perspectives on Indian Youth'.

India is a young country, both demographically and economically. More than half the population of 1.2 billion is under the age of 25 and if one stretches the definition of young to 35 that encompasses two thirds of the total population. The contrast with other Asian countries is stark: by 2020, the average age of an Indian will be 29 years, compared to 37 for China and 48 for Japan.

As several of our contributors to this series note, India in its current incarnation was born in 1991, when the then prime minister PV Narasimha Rao initiated reforms to liberalise the country's sclerotic economy, opening it up to trade and investment and dismantling state monopolies, a process that continues today.

The current young generation is therefore broadly the same age as the country. And with a new wave of optimism sweeping the country in the wake of the May election of prime minister Narendra Modi, it seems a good time to take closer look at this age group.

Warc asked members of the advertising industry in India for their views on different aspects of India's youth market – their media consumption habits, how they behave in an increasingly digital world, their attitudes towards change, the rural-urban divide and what trends we can expect to see in the future.

Along with these articles we have also pulled together the most relevant material on Warc, from Esomar papers to case studies, which we hope will further illuminate the ways in which marketers can understand and reach this crucial demographic.

Read the series here.