Here's which generation you're part of based on your birth year — and why those distinctions exist
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Defining generations helps researchers investigate how history impacts the ways people see the world. Generation Z was shaped by technology.
In 2019, Pew Research Foundation officially established a generation after millennials, Generation Z.
Generation Z includes anyone born between 1997 and 2012.
Defining generations helps researchers see how coming of age during certain historical events and technological changes influence the way people see the world.
Yet that hasn't stopped demographers from classifying other cohorts into ranges of birth years. Often this is done to better understand how formative experiences such as world events or technological changes shape the ways people see and interact with the world.
The economic recession of 2008 — which came at a time when many millennials were entering the workforce — played a significant role too. At the same time, Generation Z's only experience with the workforce was through their parents' eyes.
Here's how Pew officially categorizes the generations by birth year at this point in time:
The number of birth years that a generation includes can vary. Millennials span a 16-year range, according to Pew. The Gen X cohort was another 16-year group, but the boomers had a 19-year range and the silent generation an 18-year range.
Picking a cutoff year is complicated, of course, as groups change over time.
"[T]he differences within generations can be just as great as the differences across generations, and the youngest and oldest within a commonly defined cohort may feel more in common with bordering generations than the one to which they are assigned," Dimock wrote.
Yet establishing a cutoff point helps researchers investigate how a group has been shaped by similar experiences.
"We look forward to spending the next few years studying this generation as it enters adulthood," Dimock wrote of Generation Z, adding that it's always possible that new data could give researchers a reason to reevaluate these generational boundaries. "All the while, we'll keep in mind that generations are a lens through which to understand societal change, rather than a label with which to oversimplify differences between groups."
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