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Generation Y is the cohort of people born immediately after \"Generation X\", though the term is itself controversial and is synonymous with several alternative terms, listed below. It usually describes people born in the 1980s and 1990s. more...

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Due to the history of the term, and its relation to the earlier term \"Generation X\", a term specifically coined with reference to Americans and Canadians of certain birth years, the term Generation Y is at times used to refer only to Americans or North Americans, but is also at times extrapolated beyond North America to refer to similarly aged youth in the Western World or Anglophone World, especially due to the increasingly overlapping cultural consumption of this age group in western nations.

With respect to United States (and also Canadian) generations, Generation Y is generally considered to be the last generation of people wholly born in the 20th century. Using the broadest definition commonly cited, Generation Y currently (as of 2006) includes those in their mid and early 20s, teenagers and children over the age of 6.

As generations are defined not by formal process, but rather by demographers, the press and media, popular culture, market researchers, and by members of the generation themselves, there is no precise consensus as to which birth years constitute Generation Y. Although different groups or individuals consider a different range of years to constitute Generation Y, that range of years is almost always within the outer bounds of 1976 as the earliest possible year and 2001 as the latest. The ongoing debate is in part due to the lack of a single marquee event or events, analogous to the end of World War II for the \"Baby Boomer\" generation, that can demarcate the start or end of this generation. Some events have been proposed (see below), but there is not yet universal agreement, as is typical of the Baby Boomers. Also, due to the nature of generations as a self-applied label, two individuals of the same birth year can identify with separate generations.

If the years 1978-2000 are used, as is common in market research, then the size of Generation Y in the United States is approximately 76 million. Commonly cited theories as to the best name and year range for Generation Y are mentioned below. The discussion page for the article includes a wide range of viewpoints on this topic.

Controversy: Attempts to Name and Demarcate Generation Y

The term Generation Y first appeared in an August 1993 Ad Age editorial to describe those teenagers born between 1974 -1980. The scope of the term has changed greatly since then, to include, in many cases, anyone born as late as 2001. There is still no precise definition of years.

Use of the term Generation Y (often shortened to Gen Y or Ygen) to describe any cohort of individuals is controversial for a variety of reasons. \"Generation Y\" alludes to a succession from \"Generation X\", a term which was originally coined as a pejorative label. The use of Gen Y as a term not only denotes \"after Gen X,\" but also makes a comment on the character of that generation, as in \"Generation Why?\" which is pejorative in its own way.

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