- The Greatest Generation: Born 1901 to 1927.
- The Silent Generation: Born 1928-1945 (78-95 years old) [17 years]
- Baby Boomers: Born 1946-1964 (59-77 years old) [18 years]
- Gen X: Born 1965-1980 (43-58 years old) [15 years]
- Millennials: Born 1981-1996 (27-42 years old) [15 years]
- Gen Z: Born 1997-2012 (11-26 years old) [15 years]
- Gen Alpha: Born early 2010s-2025 (0-about 10 years old)
Here Are the Age Ranges for Millennials, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha (mentalfloss.com)
Better list here: What Generation Am I? A Guide to Generations by Year (parents.com)
The Pew Research Center is the arbiter that defines these generations and their names today. Thus, these terms are defined essentially by journalists for journalists. They note these labels are not “scientifically defined” and may be meaningless – a point left out of all news reports that use these labels. Pew recommends people have a “healthy dose of skepticism” regarding generational labels.
The definitions make little sense in terms of grouping people with similar experiences.
“A typical generation spans 15 to 18 years. As many critics of generational research point out, there is great diversity of thought, experience and behavior within generations.”
How we plan to report on generations moving forward | Pew Research Center
There are good arguments that generational labels are not helpful. Someone born in 1946 will have had a very different life experience than someone born in 1964. Those born early may remember the Korean War, the Cold War of the ’50s, the early space program, the assassination of JFK, the start of the Vietnam War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Gemini Space program – while those born at the end have no memories of those events. Males (only males) born early in the period were subject to the draft for Vietnam, where those born at the end were not. These differences lead to very different lived experiences and perspectives. In the case of the “Baby Boom”, some argue there are really two generation groups, with the 2nd half (roughly) being known as “Generation Jones” (look it up).
75% of Gen Z was born after 9/11/01, and about half were not yet born or were infants in 2008 and the start of the Great Recession. 25% were born after the Great Recession. Those born at the beginning would likely be influenced by the 2008-2010 economic collapse, but those born late in the Gen Z time frame would not. Their parents might have been influenced by those events and they might, in turn, have passed along values or thoughts to their children – may be or may be not. We cannot know. Nothing here is very solid.
A Gen Z “financial” talk influencer claimed her generation is the only generation to have lived through 3 recessions noting she was born in 1998. That meant she was 3 years old in 2001. She likely remembers life during the 2001 recession very clearly – hah hah. 25% of Gen Z had not yet been born at the time of the Great Recession in 2008-1010. The 3rd recession she was counting is the one that was widely predicted since 2020 but has still not happened! As you can see, you can be part of Gen Z and have very different experiences between the youngest and oldest members.
Another problem is that the number of people in each generation are not equal. Thus, when you hear that “Boomers” own more homes than another generation, it could be because of the larger numbers in their generation.
Millennials outnumbered Boomers in 2019 | Pew Research Center
You can see why this happened:
