Which generation am I?

Generations are labels for people born in a shared stretch of years. Enter a birth year to see which cohort it falls in, the range that defines it, and what the label is usually taken to mean.

Year of birth

Your generation

Born in 1996, you are part of Millennials (Generation Y) (1981–1996).

Generation: Millennials (Generation Y)
Birth years: 1981 to 1996
What defines it: Came of age around the year 2000 and the rise of the internet.
Age this year: 30 on your birthday
Born that year: What happened in 1996

The generations

Lost Generation — 1883–1900. Came of age during the First World War.
Greatest Generation — 1901–1927. Grew up in the Depression and fought in the Second World War.
Silent Generation — 1928–1945. Children of the Depression and war years.
Baby Boomers — 1946–1964. Born in the post-war birth surge.
Generation X — 1965–1980. The latch-key generation; first to grow up with personal computers.
Millennials (Generation Y) — 1981–1996. Came of age around the year 2000 and the rise of the internet.
Generation Z — 1997–2012. First generation raised with smartphones and social media.
Generation Alpha — 2013–2024. Born entirely in the 21st century.
Generation Beta — 2025–present. The newest cohort, born from 2025.

How it is calculated

The ranges follow the Pew Research Center definitions, which are the most widely cited in journalism and market research.
Each generation is a fixed span of birth years, not an age band, so the label never changes as someone gets older.
Generation Alpha and Generation Beta follow the naming convention that continues past Z; their end points are still settling.
Years before the Lost Generation are not usually labelled, so the tool says so rather than inventing a name.

Where this is used in the real world

Marketing and research briefs that segment an audience by cohort.
Workplace policy and communication aimed at particular age groups.
Family conversations about how different decades shaped different upbringings.

Good to know

The boundaries are conventions, not facts. Different organisations shift them by a year or two, and someone born near a boundary may identify with either side.
Generational labels describe the era someone grew up in, not the person. They say nothing reliable about an individual.
The ranges were drawn from an American context and translate imperfectly to other countries.

Questions people ask

What years are Millennials?

1981 to 1996 under the Pew definition used here. Anyone born in that span is a Millennial regardless of their current age.

Am I Gen Z or Gen Alpha?

Generation Z runs from 1997 to 2012 and Generation Alpha from 2013. The result shows which side of the line a year falls on.

Why do other sites give different years?

There is no official definition. Pew, Strauss and Howe, and various market research firms each draw the lines slightly differently.