Some researchers start the generation in the late 1970s. A 2014 report from
Synchrony Financial describes Millennials as starting as early as 1976,
[19][20] and a 2009 report from
MetLife defines the generation as being born between 1977 and 1994.
[21]
Most researchers and demographers start the generation in the early 1980s. A 2009 McCrindle Research report from
Australia uses 1980–1994 as Generation Y birth dates, starting with a recorded rise in birth rates, and fitting their newer definition of a generational span as 15 years.
[22] In 2013, a global generational study conducted by
PricewaterhouseCoopers with the
University of Southern California and the
London Business School defined Millennials as those born between 1980–1995.
[23] In 2014,
Dale Carnegie Training and MSW Research described Millennial birth years as being between 1980–1996.
[24] Gallup Inc., an American research-based global
performance-management consulting company, also uses 1980–1996 as birth years for this cohort.
[25][26][27] In May 2013, a
Time magazine cover story identified Millennials as those born from 1980 or 1981 to 2000.
[28] A 2016 report from
Goldman Sachs describes Millennials as being born between 1980–2000.
[29]
Resolution Foundation described Millennials as those born between 1980 and 2000 (aged between 15 and 35) at the time of the research for a 2016 study comparing the earnings of Millennials to Generation X.
[30][31]
Pew Research Center defines Millennials as being born from 1981 onwards.
[32][33] New 18-year-olds are added into the generation each year until a chronological endpoint can be determined.
[34] According to Pew, "Today’s youngest adults are Millennials, but the 16-year span of Millennial birth years (1981-1997) is already about as wide a range as those of the other living generations," which are around 15-20 years each, thus making it likely that "in the near future the youngest adults will be members of a post-Millennial generation."
[35]
Demographers
William Straus and Neil Howe define Millennials as born between 1982–2004.
[1] However, Howe described the dividing line between Millennials and the following
Generation Z as "tentative" saying, "you can’t be sure where history will someday draw a cohort dividing line until a generation fully comes of age." He noted that the Millennials' range beginning in 1982 would point to the next generation's window starting between 2000 and 2006.
[36]
In his 2008 book
The Lucky Few: Between the Greatest Generation and the Baby Boom, author Elwood Carlson defined this cohort as born between 1983–2001 based on the upswing in births after 1983 and finishing with the "political and social challenges" that occurred after the
September 11 terrorist acts.
[15] In 2016,
U.S Pirg described Millennials as those born between 1983 and 2000.
[37][38][39]
Due to birth-year overlap between definitions of Generation X and Millennials, some individuals born in the late-
1970s and early-
1980s see themselves as being "between" the two generations.
[40][41][42][43] Names given to individuals born in the Generation X and Millennial cusp years include: Xennials, The Lucky Ones, Generation Catalano, and the
Oregon Trail Generation.
[43][44][45][46][47]