What year does Generation X begin? How old are the millennials? What is the youngest generation called? The cut-off dates of the various demographic groups used in modern studies are shrouded in uncertainty. This is why the Pew Research Center has defined clear criteria for defining the age groups.

Sociologists have long used the concept of generation to analyze the evolution of ways of thinking. This notion clarifies how the impact of different life experiences (such as major historical events and technological innovations) varies between age groups. 

The time has come to officially delineate the generation that preceded Generation Y and the one that follows, the American research centre maintains. In the article Defining Generations: Where Millennials End And Generation Z Begins, published in January 2019, it elaborates on a proposition made in March 2018.

Who makes up Generation X?

The Pew Research Center determined that Generation X comprises people who follow the baby boomers, born between 1965 and 1980.

  • This generation is marked by the emergence of technology in daily life, particularly the rapid evolution of communication and interaction modes.
  • While baby boomers witnessed the rapid spread of television, Generation X grew up during the computer revolution.

Who are the millennials?

The research centre states that the generation of millennials (or Y) corresponds to people born between 1981 and 1996. Celebrating their 38th birthday in 2019, the oldest Ys are now well into adulthood. In fact, because the majority is over age 21, they first became adults before today’s youngest adults were born. 

  • Most millennials were between ages 5 and 20 when the attacks of September 11, 2001 rocked America. Many were old enough to grasp the historical importance of events. A large number also remember hearing about conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, which drove the strong polarization that shapes the current political environment, at least in the US.
  • Most millennials were between ages 12 and 27 when Barack Obama was first elected (2008). The youth vote changed the landscape and ushered in the first black president of the United States. 
  • Generation Y came of age during the Internet explosion.
  • Most millennials in the US reached adult age at the peak of an economic recession that coincided with their arrival on the job market. This situation influenced their life choices, income, and the age that they reached financial autonomy. Nearly one in four Canadian baby boomers still has adult children living at home. And they expect the boomerang kids to stick around for some time, the HuffPost reported in August 2018. This trend will have social consequences for decades, the Pew Research Center warns.

The origin of Generation Z

The term Generation Z (or Gen Z) is fairly transparent: it simply refers to the generation that follows X and Y. The Pew Research Center categorizes everyone born after 1997 as belonging to this emerging generation.

  • The oldest members will turn 22 in 2019, but most are still in mid-adolescence or even younger.    
  • Members of Generation Z tend to have few if any memories of September 11, 2011, and can hardly imagine life without information technologies.
  • In the United States, this generation is marked by much higher racial and ethnic diversity than the previous one. In addition, few Zs have already reached adulthood.

Determining the generation cut-off points is not an exact science. Yet these basic tools help people easily see eye to eye when it comes to age groups.