Gen Z is historically slow getting driver's licenses. Boomers aren't letting theirs go.

Olivia Rodrigo is, evidently, an anomaly. Unlike the singer, who got her driver's license at age 16 in 2020 and recorded a hit song about it a year later, most members of Generation Z (born 1996 to 2012) do not get their license before age 18 anymore, according to Federal Highway Administration data and multiple surveys. In 2021, 25 percent of U.S. 16-year-olds and 42 percent of 17-year-olds had a driver's license.

In 1997, 43 percent of 16-year-olds and 62 percent of 17-year-olds had their driver's license, The Washington Post noted Monday. "Even older members of Gen Z are lagging behind their millennial counterparts. In 1997, almost 90 percent of 20- to 25 year-olds had licenses; in 2020, it was only 80 percent."

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.