Generational make up of the 116th Congress (2019-2021)

[junior chįmp]

Had some free time today and decided to crunch some numbers for the newly elected Congress:

House of Representatives:

Silent Generation- 20 (4.60%)
Baby Boomers - 198 (45.52)
Generation X - 192 (44.14%)
Millennials - 23 (5.29%)
Vacant - 2 (0.46%) [NC-3rd and NC-9th]

Senate:

Silent Generation - 9 (9%)
Baby Boomers - 61 (61%)
Generation X - 30 (30%)

Key:

Silent Generation b. 1925-1942
Baby Boomers b. 1943-1960
Generation X b. 1961-1981
Millennials b. 1982-2004

Good news is that Baby Boomers are on their way out in the House (which they've been in the majority since 1994) but the bad news is they still run the Senate (though down from their high of nearly 70% in 2007). The Silents+Boomers just barely create a majority combined at 50.12%.

[Sestak]

The boomer majority is gone?

🦀🦀

[Del Tachi]

I'm guessing this is the first Congress where Millennials outnumber Silents

[junior chįmp]

The boomer majority is gone?

🦀🦀

Yaas...Boomers lost like 8% of their entire membership. Compare to the composition of the previous Congress (115th, 2017 to 2019)

House of Representatives:

Silent Generation - 23 [5.29%]
Baby Boomers - 232 [53.33%]
Generation X - 176 [40.46%]
Millennials - 4 [0.92%]

Senate:

Silent Generation - 13 [13%]
Baby Boomers - 60 [60%]
Generation X - 27 [27%]

I'm guessing this is the first Congress where Millennials outnumber Silents

Yep...Millennials made big gains this midterm

[junior chįmp]

Because I keep getting messaged for the rest of this info...heres the generational makeup of both houses of Congress since the New Deal days:

House



Senate:

[Tartarus Sauce]

What the hell is going on with the timespans? The Boomers starting in the middle of WW2? Millenials going until 2004? 

[Sir Mohamed]

Gee, the senate is way, way too old. We need fresh blood. DiFi should have retired last year. Some with all the other non-first termers over 70.

[junior chįmp]

What the hell is going on with the timespans? The Boomers starting in the middle of WW2? Millenials going until 2004? 

[Sestak]

What the hell is going on with the timespans? The Boomers starting in the middle of WW2? Millenials going until 2004? 

Most of the lines I've seen regarding Millennial-to-Z have been related to 9/11 in some way, ranging from 1995 to 2000...

[Tartarus Sauce]

What the hell is going on with the timespans? The Boomers starting in the middle of WW2? Millenials going until 2004?  

Wait, are these the definitions used by Strauss and Howe? They concocted the famous cyclical theory of the generations and have been using a definition of Baby Boomers that includes those born before WW2 ended?! That's like the only generation where there's a case to be made for a hard starting point, and it should never be before the end of WW2.

I mean, all generational definitions tend to be quite arbitrary, and generations, to the degree that they do exist, should be viewed as ambiguous, nebulous entities rather than discretely defined, but the Baby Boomers are unique in the sense that they also constitute a distinct demographic spike. If you aren't going to keep the starting and ending years open-ended, and I don't think Strauss and Howe do, the starting parameter for the baby boomers is basically required to be 1946.