What generation am I?

Baby Boomer, Gen X, Millennial, Gen Z: the labels are everywhere, from news headlines to workplace training. But they aren’t official, and different sources draw the lines in different places. Here are the most widely used birth-year ranges, and why they’re where they are.

Generations by birth year

Ages in 2026 depend on whether the birthday has passed. Our age calculator shows your generation alongside your exact age.

Where the boundaries come from

Only one boundary has a demographic basis. The Baby Boom was a real surge in births in the United States after the Second World War, from 1946, which ended when birth rates fell after 1964. The other generations are defined by shared experiences during their formative years, and that’s a judgment call.

When Pew Research Center set the line between Millennials and Generation Z at 1996 and 1997, it explained its reasoning: the oldest Millennials were adults when the 9/11 attacks happened, came of age around the 2008 financial crisis, and grew up as the internet arrived. Generation Z, by contrast, grew up with smartphones and social media as a given. Pew also stressed that generation boundaries are tools for analysis, not hard rules, and that people near a boundary often have a lot in common with the generation next door. In 2023 it went further, saying it would use generational labels more sparingly and only where the data shows real differences between generations.

Why sources disagree

Different researchers, writers and marketing firms use slightly different years, so you’ll see Millennials starting anywhere from 1980 to 1983 and Gen Z ending anywhere from 2010 to 2012. Some people near the edges identify with “micro-generations”, such as Xennials (born around the late 1970s and early 1980s), who grew up with an analogue childhood and a digital adulthood.

Generation Alpha and Generation Beta are newer labels with no agreed definition. A common scheme puts Gen Alpha at about 2010 to 2024 and Gen Beta from 2025 to 2039. We start Gen Alpha in 2013 so it follows on from Pew’s Gen Z, and mark both as informal.

Generations outside the United States

These labels started in the US, and the experiences that define them are mostly American ones. Other countries have their own generational language. In China, for example, people often refer to cohorts by decade of birth, such as the “post-80s” and “post-90s” generations. The Western labels are widely used around the world, but the cultural experiences behind them vary.

Find your generation

Enter your date of birth in the age calculator: the result shows your generation along with your exact age, star sign and more. Only know someone’s age? Work out their birth year with What year was I born? first, or compare two people with the age difference calculator.