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Washington Post

Baby Boomers Are No Longer the Largest Living Generation in the U.S. — Here Are the Numbers

Apr 26, 2016  •  Post A Comment

The generational balance has shifted, as baby boomers are no longer the largest living generation in the U.S. That title now officially belongs to millennials, according to The Washington Post. The report cites an analysis by the Pew Research Center of newly released population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.

“For this exercise, the millennial generation included anyone who was 18 to 34 years old in 2015. Therefore, the oldest millennial was born in 1981 and the youngest in 1997,” The Post reports. “By that definition, there are now 75.4 million living millennials, which is a half-million more than the 74.9 million living baby boomers, who were defined as anyone who was 51 to 69 years old in 2015. The interim generation — Generation X — is projected to follow suit and surpass baby boomers by 2028, Pew also projected.”

The report notes that the millennial generation is expected to peak in 2036 with 81.1 million living members, when the oldest millennials will be 56. The baby boomer generation peaked in 1999 with 78.8 million living members.

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2 Comments

  1. What am I missing? If by definition all millennials have been born, how is it possible that there will be more of them in 2036 than there are today?

    • Hi Tom. Good question. What you are missing is immigration.

      Chuck Ross

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