Generations · 7 of 11
Avocado toast, student loans, and the first people online as teenagers.
Who are the Millennials?
Millennials were born from 1981 to 1996, in Pew Research Center's lines. Most were old enough to understand 9/11, and many started work in the Great Recession. Strauss and Howe coined the name in 1991 and date them 1982 to 2004. Australian researchers call them Generation Y.
The years, by who you ask
Nobody owns these lines. Each researcher draws them for their own reasons, so the edges move.
| Pew Research Center | 1981–1996 1 |
|---|---|
| Strauss & Howe | 1982–2004 2 |
| McCrindle | 1980–1994 (as Generation Y) 3 |
Pew picked 1996 as the end because most Millennials were between 5 and 20 at the time of 9/11 and remember it, and because they came of age around the Great Recession, before the smartphone was everywhere. 1
The world they were born into
What was going on while they were small, and while they were young enough for it to stick.
- Childhood1980s–1990sBirths climbed back up through the 1980s to 4.2 million in 1990, an "echo" of the boom as Boomers had children. 4
- The web1991–2000The World Wide Web went public in 1991. By 2000, 52 percent of American adults were online. 5,6
- September 112001The attacks killed 2,977 people from 90 nations. Pew treats remembering them as a dividing line between Millennials and Gen Z. 7,1
- The crash2007–2009The Great Recession ran from December 2007 to June 2009, the longest since the Second World War. Unemployment reached 10 percent in October 2009, just as many Millennials were looking for their first jobs. 8
- Phones2007The iPhone was announced on 9 January 2007. Most Millennials met the smartphone as adults. 9,1
Where the name came from
William Strauss and Neil Howe coined "Millennials" in their 1991 book Generations, for the children who would graduate around the year 2000. "Generation Y" appeared in a Canadian newspaper in 1992 and is still the usual name in Australia. 10,3
How they're usually described
The generalities: what researchers and writers say about the group as a whole. A group portrait, never a person.
Slow to marry. In 2014, 26 percent of Millennials aged 18 to 32 were married, against 36 percent of Gen X, 48 percent of Boomers and 65 percent of the Silent Generation at that age. 11
Unattached. Half described themselves as political independents and 29 percent had no religious affiliation, both record highs for any generation Pew had studied at that age. 11
Low trust, high hopes. Only 19 percent said most people can be trusted, yet 49 percent said America's best years were ahead, more than any older generation. 11
In debt. Two-thirds of recent graduates had student loans, averaging about $27,000. 11
Next to the other generations
Who raised them, who they raised, and where the friction and the common ground show up in the data.
Boomers. Mostly their parents. The public sparring, "entitled" on one side and "OK boomer" on the other, is real, but Bobby Duffy's analysis of survey data finds the generational war between them is mostly a myth. 12,13
Gen X. Older siblings and first bosses. On most of Pew's measures, Gen X sits between Millennials and Boomers. 11
Gen Z. Pew found Gen Z looks a lot like Millennials on social and political issues: for example, 48 percent of Gen Z and 47 percent of Millennials said same-sex marriage was good for the country. 14
Gen Alpha. Their children. McCrindle describes Gen Alpha as the children of Generation Y. 3
In the long cycle
A theory, not a finding: Strauss and Howe's idea that generations come round in a four-part pattern. How the theory works, and its critics.
In Strauss and Howe's theory the Millennials are the next Heroes, matched with the G.I. Generation: raised protectively during an Unraveling, they are expected to come of age in a Crisis and rebuild institutions. Howe dates that Crisis from 2008. It is the most-quoted and least-tested prediction of the theory. 2,15
The decades they were born in
Millennials were born across the 1980s and the first seven years of the 1990s, in Pew's lines.
Questions people ask
What years are Millennials?
Pew Research Center uses 1981 to 1996. Strauss and Howe, who coined the name, use 1982 to 2004. McCrindle uses 1980 to 1994 and calls them Generation Y.
Are Millennials and Generation Y the same?
Yes. Generation Y appeared in 1992 as the next letter after X; Millennials is the name Strauss and Howe coined in 1991. American writers mostly say Millennials; Australians often say Gen Y.
Why does Pew end Millennials in 1996?
Because most people born by 1996 were old enough to understand 9/11, came of age around the Great Recession, and met the smartphone as young adults rather than as children.
Seventy-odd million Millennials. One card that knows which one you are.
Your generation is the crowd you were born into. Your card is worked out from your own birthday, minute and place: the sky that night, your numbers and your Chinese year. Sealed until you print it.
What your card covers
See all six pages, sealedFold the pages back
1 Who you are
2 The machine says
3 Your sky
4 Love & your people
5 Work & money
6 Your year ahead
Sources
- Defining generations: Where Millennials end and Generation Z begins, Pew Research Center, Michael Dimock, 17 January 2019. Read on .
- Strauss-Howe Generational Theory, Critical Dictionary of Apocalyptic and Millenarian Movements, Amanda van Eck Duymaer van Twist and Suzanne Newcombe (Inform), 2017, updated 15 January 2021. Read on .
- Generation Alpha defined, McCrindle Research, Mark McCrindle. Read on .
- NCHS – Births and General Fertility Rates: United States, 1909–2018, CDC, NCHS (data.gov dataset). Read on .
- A short history of the Web, CERN. Read on .
- Internet, Broadband Fact Sheet, Pew Research Center, 20 November 2025. Read on .
- 9/11 FAQs, 9/11 Memorial & Museum. Read on .
- The Great Recession, Federal Reserve History, Robert Rich. Read on .
- Apple Reinvents the Phone with iPhone, Apple Newsroom, 9 January 2007. Read on .
- Generational Cohorts, Wordorigins.org, David Wilton, 20 October 2020. Read on .
- Millennials in Adulthood, Pew Research Center, 7 March 2014. Read on .
- "OK, boomer": How a viral catchphrase is reshaping generational relationships, CBS News, Natacha Larnaud, 8 November 2019. Read on .
- The Generation Myth: Why When You're Born Matters Less than You Think, by Bobby Duffy, Publishers Weekly review, 22 July 2021 (Basic Books). Read on .
- Generation Z Looks a Lot Like Millennials on Key Social and Political Issues, Pew Research Center, Kim Parker, Nikki Graf and Ruth Igielnik, 17 January 2019. Read on .
- The Fourth Turning: How History's Crisis Period Could Unfold, The Art of Manliness podcast #913, Brett McKay with Neil Howe, 19 July 2023. Read on .