Australia's current crop of retirees or those nearing it are no longer the largest generation as the number of Baby Boomers (55 to 74-year-olds) has been matched by Millennials (25 to 39-year-olds).

The 2021 Australian Census of Population and Housing found Boomers and Millennials each have over 5.4 million people.

Over the last ten years, Millennials have increased from 20.4 per cent of the population in 2011 to 21.5 per cent in 2021. At the same time, Baby Boomers have decreased from 25.4 per cent in 2011 to 21.5 per cent in 2021.

Interestingly, those in the middle of these generations, defined as Generation X (40-54 year-olds), make up just 19.2% of the population.

Today, Millennials are of working age and are upskilling. They represent 40 per cent of people attending vocational education, including TAFE, and 48 per cent of people currently serving in the regular service of the Australian Defence Force.

The Census data shows one in eight (12.8 per cent) Baby Boomers care for other people's children, often their grandchildren, and two-thirds are female (67.5 per cent).

They are also the generation most likely to volunteer and provide unpaid assistance to others.

Generation Z (10 to 24 years old) represent 18 per cent of Australia and 30 per cent of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population.

Millennials and Baby Boomers report quite different religious affiliations, with 56.8 per cent of Baby Boomers reporting a Christian religious affiliation compared to 30.6 per cent of Millennials.

More than 45 per cent (46.5 per cent) of Millennials reported they had no religion compared to 30 per cent of Baby Boomers (30.7 per cent).

There have been calls to ditch terms such as Baby Boomer and Millennial because the labels are provocative, divisive, and pit generations against each other.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Census are happy to stick with the labels to better understand the various generations and the broader society.

Dr. David Gruen, an Australian Statistician says, “The data collected by the Census assists governments and community organisations to better comprehend the needs of each generation. This information will help frame policy that delivers positive outcomes for our communities."

Professor Bobby Duffy, Director of the Policy Institute, King's College London, says it is necessary to acknowledge generational differences.

“The balance between generations is constantly shifting, as older cohorts die out and are replaced by new entrants. Younger generations may have different attitudes or behaviours than older generations. This may reshape society, and if we can, to some extent, predict how it will develop, we can identify those differences.”

In his book, Generations, Professor Duffy argues against clickbait that fuels stereotypes and demonises millennials as “killing the napkin industry” or baby boomers having “ruined everything”.

“There is no research identifying the appropriate boundaries between generations. There is also no empirical basis for imposing the sweeping character traits believed to define them,” he says. “Generation descriptors are either embarrassing stereotypes or caricatures with astrology-level vagueness.”

Writing in the Washington Post, Professor Duffy slams these categories as failing to capture common experiences.

“Consider the life history of Baby Boomers — the one group defined by a historic event (the spike in birth rates between 1946 and 1964). Some men were born in the late 1940s, 42 per cent of whom served in the military. While others, born in the early 1960s, came of age after the Vietnam War. Those men entered the military at a fraction of that rate (12 per cent).”

Millennials are similarly split between those who finished high school before the Great Recession (for whom the average unemployment rate was 7 per cent upon graduation) and after (with unemployment rates spiking above 11 per cent). No social scientist would draw these categories knowing what we know today.

“Plus, everyone experiences history differently based on their background, so throwing everyone together by year of birth often misses all the glorious conflict and complexity in social change.”

For further reading: The Washington Post and The Australian Bureau of Statistics