What generation am I? A breakdown of each generation

Baby Boomers, Millennials, and Gen Z are pretty common buzzwords now when it comes to discussing the cultural and political values held by different age groups. These are three of the largest (and most vocal) social generations currently alive. But many people find it hard to perfectly define where they fit along these lines.

Generally speaking, we understand a "generation" to be a cluster of all people born between certain years, often defined by what events have happened in the world. More specifically, many people think of a generation as roughly the amount of time between birth and childbearing, which often creates groupings between 15 and 30 years long.

Looking at generational theory, sociologist Karl Mannheim believed that a generation could be understood as a group with similar temporal, historical, and sociocultural contexts. Essentially, your generation is not just those born at the same time, but those who had similar foundational experiences.

As an important note here, the generations that we hear discussed most are highly location-specific. These are primarily groupings of people in the United States and Europe, as the foundational experiences are located in these regions. Other parts of the world may have different generations, or may not label generations at all.

Here, we define all the generations currently living today, as well as what years they cover and which major world events would have had the most impact on them. If you've always felt torn between different generations, this guide might help explain why you technically fall in one generation but feel more a part of another.