In a few days it will be New Year’s Eve – and for the vast majority of Germans, wishing their loved ones, friends and family a Happy New Year or the proverbial Happy New Year is part of the New Year. Even if this cannot always happen face to face, for a large majority it is important to convey the New Year’s greetings in words and pictures and thus as personally as possible: Thus, 92 percent of Germans rely on the classic telephone call for this purpose. However, almost two-thirds (63 per cent) now also use video telephony via services such as WhatsApp, Facetime, Signal and Co. – among the younger generation aged between 16 and 29, the figure is as high as 79 per cent. Half of the Germans (49 per cent) send New Year’s greetings by voice message via messenger services – and 13 per cent use video messages with the help of recorded videos that they send to their loved ones via messenger. 

But written messages also play a role in sending New Year’s greetings: 56 per cent write text messages via messenger services, one fifth (21 per cent) rely on handwritten postcards or letters, 12 per cent write a text message on New Year’s Eve and 8 per cent greet by e-mail. Only 1 percent say they do not send any New Year’s greetings at all. The digital association Bitkom is not one of them. Therefore: We wish you a Happy New Year! 

Note on methodology: The data is based on a survey conducted by Bitkom Research on behalf of the digital association Bitkom. In the process, 1,005 people in Germany aged 16 and over were interviewed by telephone. The survey is representative. The question was: “How do you want to send or deliver your New Year’s greetings this year?