Generation Z is in delicate phase.
The oldest of the cohort – born from 1997 to 2012 – is the half of the twenties and the heat for rub against the culture of the workplace In a way that adapts (familiar sound, millennial?). The youngest zoomers, as they have also known, are about 13 years old and there are still years in public school systems dealing with frequent upheavals due to uncertainty at the federal level,, Politicization of essential services such as libraries And Continuous challenges to help students reach the school level.
We have examined data on demography, academics and mental health of the Z generation to see how they have been going on on the stage almost 30 years ago.
More diverse than ever
Generation Z represents around 69 million American residents. This represents 2 million people less than in the millennium cohort, but the young generation continues the trend to more diversity. Among the zooks, non -Hispanic whites fell to about half of the population, According to data Compiled by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Their next largest ethnic group is the Latinos, at 24%.
Gen Z reached 41 million eligible voters In 2024, and although it is a generation of people who have had a large part of their education interrupted by COVID-19 and the pandemic benefits, a majority believes that education is a key element of Improve children's lives.
Infant poverty
Generation Z has experienced “exceptionally high poverty rates” compared to older generations, according to the analysis of the Annie E. Casey Foundation. In 2011 and 2012, when the oldest zoomers were 15 years old, this rate culminated with 46% of them living in low -income households.
Infantile poverty has increased with their successors. When the first members of Gen Alpha arrived in 2013, 48% were born in low -income families.
Mixed school realization
Despite their first challenges, the Zoomers still achieved impressive academic milestones. At the same time, generation Z has reached its highest level of children in low -income households, 34% of its students reached the “competent” designation on the assessment of national mathematics – the highest student rate to do so well since 2000 – although scores take a stroke of the pandemic After 2019.
Since Zoomers began to reach the age of 16 in 2013, the rate of students who abandon the secondary has fallen at its lowest level and remained stable at 4%. During generation Y, around 11% of people aged 16 to 19 left school without a diploma.
While students of generation Z are question the value of a university degree In a way, their predecessors may not have done so, the zoomers maintain the rate of young people in stable higher education. People aged 18 to 24 who are registered or have finished the college have been just under 50% for more than a decade, according to the analysis, and the Zoomers have entered this chronology when they started to be 18 in 2015.
Mental health struggles
Discussions on generation Z Mental health organized projectors Since the American general surgeon said it a crisis In 2021. About two -thirds of the Zoomers said they had dealt with at least one mental health problem in the previous two years, according to a 2023 report.
Young LGBTQ + are even more risky of depression and suicidal ideas than their peers, according to Trevor project dataAnd experts say that the search for acceptance and support plays an important role in improving their mental health. Even if generation Z earns a reputation The most anxious generationThey also carefully care about their Mental health of friends.
