Millennials are now America's largest living generation

With 75.4 million members to baby boomers' 74.9 million, millennials — those born between 1981 and 1997 — are now the largest living generation in America.

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(Washington Post)

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The new ranking is due to two factors. First, baby boomers, the oldest of whom turn 70 this year, are beginning to die off. In fact, the boomer generation peaked nearly two decades ago in 1999, with 78.8 million members, and has been shrinking ever since.

The second and less obvious factor is immigration, which enables the millennial generation in America to continue to grow even though the cutoff date for new births is long past. Millennials are expected to peak at 81.1 million living members in 2036.