Inside the contested birth years of generations

Thinking in terms of "generations" is a kind of shortcut to help us understand social and economic differences in age cohorts over time. Sometimes, though, it contributes to sloppy analysis or cliche-driven over-generalization. Generational names and birth years are therefore contested social constructs that are nevertheless widely influential in public discourse. Where did these ideas come from, and what is the difference between a Baby Boomer, a Millennial and a member of Gen Alpha?

What is a generation, anyway?

The rise of survey research comparing economic, social and health outcomes over time has increased general interest in analysis based on the idea of generations, which "can help readers see themselves in the data and assess where we are and where we're headed as a country," said Pew, an organization that has been heavily involved in generational naming. Generations are "groups of people born within the same 15 to 20-year span" said USA Today.

"There is no official group in charge of naming generations," but people born between 1946 and 1964 were "dubbed Baby Boomers because of the sharp increase in birth rates after World War II," said Voice of America. Baby Boomers are "defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as those born between 1946 and 1964," said The Library of Congress. The cohort has come under fire from younger generations for hoarding wealth and staying in political power too long. The group that followed the Baby Boomers got its name from Douglas Coupland's 1991 book, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture" which "explained that the letter 'X' was meant to signify his generation's desire not to be defined." Generation X now refers to "anyone born between the years 1965 and 1980," said Yahoo Life.

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How can we sort between competing generational definitions?

Historians Neil Howe and William Strauss are generally credited with inventing the term "Millennials" in their 1991 book "Generations." They coined the neologism because the earliest members of the cohort would "graduate high school in 2000, a date that loomed large in the '90s," said Forbes. Millennials include anyone born between 1981 and 1996 and are "the first generation to know a childhood both with and without the internet," said Parents.

Their successors, Gen Z, "have come of age in the shadow of climate doom, pandemic lockdowns and fears of economic collapse," said McKinsey & Company. Their attitudes toward the importance of democracy, for example, may be dramatically different than their elders. Pew defines Gen Z as those born between 1997 and 2012, because the research "has shown dramatic shifts in youth behaviors, attitudes and lifestyles — both positive and concerning — for those who came of age in this era," said Pew. However we define them, members of Gen Z are "the first digital natives," who were plunged immediately "into a world of vast technological advances and innovations," said Voice of America.

Pew itself has backed away from generational labels and has not designated beginning and end dates for Gen Z's successors, Generations Alpha and Beta. That decision stems from a "growing chorus of criticism about generational research and generational labels" that led the organization to pledge that it will "only talk about generations when it adds value, advances important national debates and highlights meaningful societal trends," said Pew. The social media marketing company McCrindle dates Generation Alpha as those born between 2010 and 2024 and "has announced that babies born from 2025 to 2039 will be part of Gen Beta," said Mental Floss.

With Pew seemingly withdrawing from the generation-labeling business, it is not clear who or what will settle these debates in the future. "One can find disagreements and complaints over date ranges, generation names" and other aspects of generational analysis, said The Library of Congress, which also places the beginning of Generation Alpha in 2010. Yet "the arbitrary nature of generational names and spans does not negate the reality that growing up during different eras can have a profound effect," said Pew.