Millennials were the largest generation group in the United States in 2024, with an estimated population of ***** million. Born between 1981 and 1996, Millennials recently surpassed Baby Boomers as the biggest group, and they will continue to be a major part of the population for many years. The rise of Generation Alpha Generation Alpha is the most recent to have been named, and many group members will not be able to remember a time before smartphones and social media. As of 2024, the oldest Generation Alpha members were still only aging into adolescents. However, the group already makes up around ***** percent of the U.S. population, and they are said to be the most racially and ethnically diverse of all the generation groups. Boomers vs. Millennials The number of Baby Boomers, whose generation was defined by the boom in births following the Second World War, has fallen by around ***** million since 2010. However, they remain the second-largest generation group, and aging Boomers are contributing to steady increases in the median age of the population. Meanwhile, the Millennial generation continues to grow, and one reason for this is the increasing number of young immigrants arriving in the United States.

In 2024, Millennials were the largest generation group in the United States, making up about 21.81 percent of the population. However, Generation Z was not far behind, with Gen Z accounting for around 20.81 percent of the population in that year.

As of 2023, there were approximately 13.57 million members of the Baby Boomer generation in the United Kingdom, ranging from the ages of 59 to 77. The most-common single year of age for Baby Boomers in this year was 59, at 915,735, while there were 521,896 who were 77, the least common year of age.

The statistic shows the number of people in the U.S. in 2011 and 2030, by generation. By 2030, the Millennial generation will have 78 million people whereas the Boomer generation will only have 56 million people in the United States.

The graph gives an overview of weekly video content consumption behavior of members of Baby Boomers (age group ** to **) in the United States from the first to the fourth quarter of 2016, sorted by platform. In the fourth quarter of 2016, Boomers spent ** minutes a week using a DVD/Blu Ray device.

In 2023, half of Generation Z in the United States were white. In comparison, 48 percent of Gen Alpha were white in that year, making it the first generation that does not have a majority white population in the United States.

In 2020, *** million Baby Boomers - those born between 1946 and 1964 - went into retirement in the United States, more than in prior years. From 2012 to the third quarter of 2020, **** million Baby Boomers have retired in the United States.

In the first quarter of 2025, 51.4 percent of the total wealth in the United States was owned by members of the baby boomer generation. In comparison, millennials owned around 10.3 percent of total wealth in the U.S. In terms of population distribution, there was almost an equal share of millennials and baby boomers in the United States in 2024.

In 2023, there were approximately ***** million millennials in the United Kingdom, making it the largest generational cohort at that time. Millennials surpassed the Baby Boomer generation as the largest generation for the first time in 2019. The two youngest generations, Gen Z and Gen Alpha, numbered approximately **** million, and *** million respectively. Gen X are, as of the most recent year, the second-largest generation in the UK at ***** million people, with their parent's generation, the Silent Generation, numbering around *** million people in the same year. There were estimated to be ****** people who belonged to the Greatest Generation, the parents of the Baby Boomer generation, who lived through major events such as the Great Depression and World War Two. Post-War Baby Boom The baby boomer generation was the largest generation for much of this period due to the spike in births that happened after the Second World War. In 1947, for example, there were over *** million live births in the United Kingdom, compared with just ******* live births just thirty years later in 1977. Members of this generation are typically the parents of millennials, and were the driving force behind the countercultural movement of the 1960s, due to their large numbers relative to older generations at the time. The next generational cohort after Boomers are Generation X, born between 1965 and 1980. This generation had fewer members than the Boomer generation for most of its existence, and only became larger than it in 2021. Millennials and Gen Z As of 2022, the most common single year of age in the United Kingdom in 2020 was 34, with approximately ******* people this age. Furthermore, people aged between 30 and 34 were the most numerous age group in this year, at approximately 4.67 million people. As of 2022, people in this age group were Millennials, the large generation who came of age in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Many members of this generation entered the workforce following the 2008 financial crash, and suffered through high levels of unemployment during the early 2010s. The generation that followed Millennials, Generation Z, have also experienced tough socio-economic conditions recently, with key formative years dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and an increasingly unstable geopolitical situation.

As of 2021, Millennials and Baby Boomers made up an equal share of the Australian population at around 21.5 percent each, making them the largest generational groups at the time. Those aged 75 years and over made up the smallest portion of the population, followed by Gen Alpha, or those aged 0 to 9 years at the time.

There were over 4.7 million people aged between 30 and 34 in the United Kingdom in 2023, making it the most populous age group in that year. Those aged between 35 and 39 years comprised the next most numerous age group in 2023, at over 4.64 million people. Millennials overtake Boomers as biggest generation Post-war demographic trends, particularly the 'baby boom' phenomenon, have significantly influenced the current age distribution in the UK. The postwar peak of live births in 1947 resulted in the dominance of the Baby Boomer generation for several decades, until 2020 when Millennials became the largest generational cohort, surpassing the Boomers for the first time. The following year, the UK Boomer population was then overtaken by Generation X, the generation born between Boomers and Millennials. Generation Z, however, remains smaller than the three generations that preceded it, at 12.9 million individuals in 2022. Aging UK population poses challenges The median age of the UK population is projected to reach 44.5 years by 2050, compared to 34.9 years in 1950. This aging trend is indicative of broader global demographic shifts, with the median age of people worldwide forecasted to increase from 23.6 years in 1950 to 41.9 years by 2100. How countries like the UK manage their aging populations will be one of the key challenges of the next few decades. It is likely the UK's struggling National Health Service (NHS) will come under even more pressure in the coming years. There are also tough economic questions, in particular as more people enter retirement age and the UK's working population gets smaller in relation to it.

In 2020, about 17.9 percent of the population in China had been 60 years and older. This share is growing rapidly and was estimated to reach 40 percent by 2050. China's aging population With China’s boomer generation growing old and life expectancy increasing at the same time, the number of people at an age of 60 or above nearly doubled between 2000 and 2020 and reached around 255 million. This development is even more pronounced for the age group of 80 and above, which nearly tripled and is expected to reach a size of roughly 132 million in 2050, up from only 32 million in 2020. At the same time, the share of the working-age population is forecasted to decrease gradually from 64 percent of the total population in 2020 to around 50 percent in 2050, which could pose a heavy economic strain on the social security system. The old-age dependency ratio, which denotes the relation of the old-age to the working-age population, is estimated to grow from 18.2 percent in 2020 to more than 50 percent in 2050, implying that by then, statistically, two working-age adults would have to support one elderly. Strain on the social security net During the last 15 years, China's government has successfully increased the coverage of the pension insurance and health insurance. Today, most of the people are covered by some kind of social insurance. Conditions in the pension system are generous, with a regular retirement age for males at 60 years and women at 50 or 55. With the number of retirees increasing quickly, the social insurance system is now under pressure. From an economic point of view, improving the productivity of China's economy would be the primary choice for mitigating alleged inconsistencies of the system. However, without increasing the burden on the working people while tightening payment conditions, balancing the social security net could prove to be challenging.

As of September 2024 in the United Kingdom, 98 percent of Generation Z, those born between 1995 and 2012, were using social media. The same was true for 97 percent of millennials in the country. Overall, 92 percent of Gen X were on social networks, as were 86 percent of Baby boomers.

The graph shows the likelihood of subscribing to NBCUniversal's new online video streaming service (Peacock) among adults in the United States as of March 2020, according to generation. The generation least likely to purchase a subscription to the service were Boomers, with 54 percent of those surveyed answering that they were not likely at all to sign up to Peacock upon its launch in 2020, compared to 31 percent of those in Generation Z. The generation most likely to subscribe were Millennials, with six percent very likely to purchase a subscription.

This statistic has been taken from the GfK report 'How People Use Primetime TV 2015'. The graph shows the leading genres of primetime TV programming viewed regularly by Baby Boomer viewers in the United States as of May 2015. During a GfK survey, ** percent of respondents between the ages of ** and ** stated they regularly watched sitcoms or comedy shows on TV during primetime. Along with comedy, drama and movies, sports is also a popular TV genre for Baby Boomers in the United States. Super Bowl is, by far, the most popular sports event in the country, attracting million of viewers each year.

 The 'How People Use Primetime TV 2015' report from The Home Technology Monitor™—GfK’s respected media technology research service – documents the audience’s use of television during primetime. It shows changes in primetime TV usage since 2004. The study looks at how people perceive their typical television behavior by detailing their primetime TV use yesterday. The report also explores attitudes towards primetime advertising.   The GfK Group, founded 1934 in Germany, is the fourth largest market research organization in the world, operating in more than 100 countries across the world with over 10,000 employees.

Today, globally, women of childbearing age have an average of approximately 2.2 children over the course of their lifetime. In pre-industrial times, most women could expect to have somewhere between five and ten live births throughout their lifetime; however, the demographic transition then sees fertility rates fall significantly. Looking ahead, it is believed that the global fertility rate will fall below replacement level in the 2050s, which will eventually lead to population decline when life expectancy plateaus. Recent decades Between the 1950s and 1970s, the global fertility rate was roughly five children per woman - this was partly due to the post-WWII baby boom in many countries, on top of already-high rates in less-developed countries. The drop around 1960 can be attributed to China's "Great Leap Forward", where famine and disease in the world's most populous country saw the global fertility rate drop by roughly 0.5 children per woman. Between the 1970s and today, fertility rates fell consistently, although the rate of decline noticeably slowed as the baby boomer generation then began having their own children. Replacement level fertility Replacement level fertility, i.e. the number of children born per woman that a population needs for long-term stability, is approximately 2.1 children per woman. Populations may continue to grow naturally despite below-replacement level fertility, due to reduced mortality and increased life expectancy, however, these will plateau with time and then population decline will occur. It is believed that the global fertility rate will drop below replacement level in the mid-2050s, although improvements in healthcare and living standards will see population growth continue into the 2080s when the global population will then start falling.

In 2022, the state with the highest median age of its population was Maine at 45.1 years. Utah had the lowest median age at 32.1 years. View the distribution of the U.S. population by ethnicity here.

Additional information on the aging population in the United States

High birth rates during the so-called baby boom years that followed World War II followed by lower fertility and morality rates have left the United States with a serious challenge in the 21st Century. However, the issue of an aging population is certainly not an issue unique to the United States. The age distribution of the global population shows that other parts of the world face a similar issue.

Within the United States, the uneven distribution of populations aged 65 years and over among states offers both major challenges and potential solutions. On the one hand, federal action over the issue may be contentious as other states are set to harbor the costs of elderly care in states such as California and Florida. That said, domestic migration from comparably younger states may help to fill gaps in the workforce left by retirees in others.

Nonetheless, aging population issues are set to gain further prominence in the political and economic decisions made by policymakers regardless of the eventual distribution of America’s elderly. Analysis of the financial concerns of Americans by age shows many young people still decades from retirement hold strong concern over their eventual financial position.

In 2022, among the working age population of the United Kingdom, there were approximately **** million people employed from the Baby Boomer Generation, followed by **** million Gen X employed, **** million Millennials, and *** million Gen Z.

According to a 2023 survey, Americans between 18 and 29 years of age were more likely to identify with the Democratic Party than any other surveyed age group. While 39 percent identified as Democrats, only 14 percent identified ad Republicans. However, those 50 and older identified more with the Republican Party.

In 2023, there were estimated to be 956,116 people who were aged 35 in the United Kingdom, the most of any age in this year. The two largest age groups during this year were 30-34, and 35 to 39, at 4.7 million and 4.64 million people respectively. There is also a noticeable spike of 693,679 people who were aged 76, which is due to the high number of births that followed in the aftermath of the Second World War. Over one million born in 1964 In post-war Britain, there have only been two years when the number of live births was over one million, in 1947 and in 1964. The number of births recorded in the years between these two years was consistently high as well, with 1955 having the fewest births in this period at 789,000. This meant that until relatively recently, Baby Boomers were the largest generational cohort in the UK. As of 2022, there were approximately 13.76 million Baby Boomers, compared with 14 million in Generation X, 14.48 million Millennials, and 12.9 million members of Gen Z. The youngest generation in the UK, Generation Alpha numbered approximately 7.5 million in the same year. Median age to hit 44.5 years by 2050 The population of the United Kingdom is aging at a substantial rate, with the median age of the population expected to reach 44.5 years by 2050. By comparison, in 1950 the average age in the United Kingdom stood at 34.9 years. This phenomenon is not unique to the United Kingdom, with median age of people worldwide increasing from 23.6 years in 1950 to a forecasted 41.9 years by 2100. As of 2022, the region with the oldest median age in the UK was South West England, at 43.9 years, compared with 35.9 in London, the region with the youngest median age.