Millennial Generation

Also known as generation Y, the millennial generation refers to those born between the early 1980s to the mid-1990s, with dates varying among countries. The millennials, the largest generation since the baby boomers, represent a shift in generational mindsets, moving from the skepticism found in many of generation X to a sensibility that is more free-spirited, flexible, and open-minded. The Pew Research Center placed the number of millennials in the United States—those between the ages of twenty-three and thirty-eight in 2019—at approximately 72.1 million in 2019.

Overview

The millennial generation is referred to as generation Y because it represents the generation that was born on the heels of generation X. It has also been referred to as the Peter Pan generation or the boomerang generation because of statistics that show that many born during this time moved back with their parents in early adulthood due either to economic circumstances or because they are waiting longer to pursue careers and marriage.

Millennials are often characterized as lazy, narcissistic, having a short attention span, being competitive, having unrealistic professional/work expectations, being disengaged civically and politically, and being materialistic. Despite these negative characteristics, a decade of research concerning millennials has also shown that persons in this category are more likely to be open-minded to perspectives other than their own, upbeat, liberal, technologically savvy, sophisticated, confident, self-expressive, concerned with reproductive rights and health, and supportive of comprehensive sex education and equal rights for minorities and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. This dichotomy suggests, according to scholars, that there is more to the millennial generation than some may think.

Millennials also tend not to identify with particular religions and are less likely to serve in the military. According to a 2014 Pew Research Center poll, 29 percent of millennials are not affiliated with organized religion, while only 58 percent say they believe in God with absolute certainty (compared to 69 percent for generation Xers and 73 percent for baby boomers). They are also considered by many to be the most educated generation in US history. However, this generation was significantly impacted by several challenges when its members were mostly young adults, a time when such events can be especially devastating. These included the economic recession that began in December 2007, with more than 35 percent of millennials identifying themselves as unemployed in 2010, according to a Pew Research Center report. Such hardships have especially impacted marginalized groups who have experienced higher rates of poverty, incarceration, and mortality than others in their generation. Other challenges, such as a rise in mass shootings and the COVID-19 pandemic, have defined the generation. In turn, these events have led millennials to lead important conversations about inequality and structural racism that have impacted all of American society.

Millennials represented a significant percentage of the voting population that supported Democratic candidates in the twenty-first century. They supported both President Barack Obama’s candidacy in 2008 and 2012 (Obama earned 60 percent of the millennial vote in 2012) and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton's candidacy in 2016 (Clinton earned 55 percent of the millennial vote). Though some reports found the generation is not considered to be politically enthusiastic, tending not to support the national security policies of older generations nor to actively engage in midterm elections or state-level politics, this began to change as millennials aged and began to make up a greater share of the voting population. The 2020 election saw record turnouts of young voters. Along with generation Z voters, millennials favored Joe Biden over Donald Trump by about 20 points in the 2020 election.

Millennials and Technology

The millennial generation is the first to have grown up with the internet and with ready access to technology. The constant access to texting, online messengers, and social media have had a great effect on the way that millennials interact with one another and the world around them in that they are almost constantly virtually connected with others, but may have a more difficult time with face-to-face interaction, as has also become the case with younger generations. Because of this generation's increasing buying power, it has been vital (and will continue to be) to develop highly interactive, user-friendly hardware, software, and applications.

Millennials are very much defined by their technology savvy; by the 2020s, nearly 100 percent of individuals in this generation were digitally connected, with more than 96 percent using smartphones. About 58.5 million millennials were actively engaged on Facebook in 2018, and 43.3 million were engaged on the social media platform Instagram the same year. Those numbers continued to grow in the 2020s. In 2024, 87 percent of millennials used Facebook at least once per week and 71 percent used Instagram. Snapchat (52 percent) and Twitter (rebranded as X, 42 percent) also had high engagement rates with millennials. Further, the way in which millennials interacted with social media differed from other generations. For example, a 2021 Pew Research Center study revealed that millennials tended to engage with content related to climate change more than those in generation X or older generations.

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