Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents—and What They Mean for America's Future

by Jean M. Twenge

Like every generation, Gen X contains multitudes, and changes with the times, but its identity is more unfocused than that of other generations. The boundaries of Gen X are also fuzzy. Generation X, the Douglas Coupland novel that named the generation, is actually about those born in the early 1960s, who are usually instead considered late Boomers. (Coupland himself was born in 1961.) At the other end, the later Gen X birth years bleed into early Millennials, inspiring a label (“Xennials”) and a persistent debate about the last year of the generation: Anywhere from 1977 to 1983 has been suggested. I’ve used 1979 because it not only breaks at the decade’s end but also cleaves at a generational watershed: Everyone born in 1979 and before was 21 or older, a full-fledged adult at least by rights, on September 11, 2001.