The generations,
explained.
A clear guide to the names, the birth years, and what they actually tell us.
A birth year.
A bit of context.
Millennial, Gen X, Baby Boomer. The names turn up everywhere. A generation groups people born around the same time, giving us a way to talk about the history they lived through. Start with the years, then leave room for everyone’s own story.
Meet the whole timeline.
Eight generations, in birth-year order. Pick one to get to know it.
Greatest
1901–1927
Lives spanning the Depression and World War II.
Silent
1928–1945
Born from the late 1920s through the end of World War II.
Boomers
1946–1964
The births behind the postwar baby boom.
Gen X
1965–1980
After the boom, before the Millennials.
Millennials
1981–1996
Also known as Generation Y.
Gen Z
1997–2012
The generation following Millennials.
Gen Alpha
2013–2024
The next chapter, with boundaries still debated.
Gen Beta
2025 onward · proposed
An emerging name for the newest arrivals.
These are the ranges used by our calculator, mainly following U.S. conventions. 1901 is our calculator’s starting point, not a universal historical boundary.
Why aren’t they all
twenty years?
Generation lengths vary. The Baby Boomer range follows a particular rise in U.S. births after World War II. Gen X and Millennials each cover a shorter stretch in the convention used here.
Count both the first and last birth year: 1946 through 1964 includes nineteen years.
Baby Boomers
1946–1964
Gen X & Millennials
1965–1980 & 1981–1996
Your age changes.
Your generation stays.
Someone born in 1990 is a Millennial at 25, 45, and 75. Your birth year stays put, even as the birthday candles add up.
Month and day let our calculator check your full birthday, but your birth year determines the generation. This is different from a family generation: it describes calendar years, rather than your place in a family tree.
A little room
around the edges.
There is no single official timeline for every country or researcher. We use Gen Z for 1997–2012, Alpha for 2013–2024, and the emerging Beta label from 2025 onward.
Some frameworks begin Alpha in 2010. Our younger ranges combine conventions from different sources; they are not one organization’s official standard. Beta’s name and boundaries are still provisional.
For an essay, survey, or conversation, include the birth years alongside the name. A generation can give useful context, but it cannot tell you someone’s personality or life story.
A few more good reads.
About the dates and sources
The chart uses the same ranges as our calculator. The original research and definitions are listed here if you want to explore further.
- Pew Research Center: Defining generations
- Pew Research Center: Demographic definitions
- Library of Congress: Generations research guide
- U.S. Census Bureau: The Older Population, 2020
- Statistics Canada: Defining generations
- McCrindle: Welcome Gen Beta