Against gloomy expectations, Gen Z and millennials are doing better than earlier generations

The familiar portrait of Gen Z and millennials as lazy, easily offended and unable to cope with setbacks does not match the financial data, according to a comparison by Statistics Netherlands, or CBS.

Younger generations generally have more purchasing power and greater wealth, including home ownership, than earlier generations had at the same age. Purchasing power rose structurally between 1977 and 2024, leaving younger generations better off than older ones at almost every age.

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Every new generation does better than the generation before in purchasing power and wealth.

The so-called pragmatists, born between 1970 and 1985, had purchasing power at age 45 that was nearly one and a half times that of baby boomers born between 1945 and 1955 at the same age, the CBS figures show. CBS chief economist Peter Hein van Mulligen said the positive result was not surprising. “Every new generation does better than the generation before in purchasing power and wealth.”

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The claim that older generations had it difficult when they were young while today's youth only buy matcha lattes and should not complain is not true, of course.

Yet experts told NRC that the figures clash with how many people experience their lives. Wilco van Dijk, a professor of economic psychology at Leiden University, said the difference between objective data and subjective experience needs to be explained. He rejected the idea that young people simply complain while spending on luxuries such as matcha lattes.

Van Dijk also urged policymakers to look beyond aggregate figures. During the coronavirus pandemic, Dutch savings rose, but people with fixed jobs could keep earning while people on zero-hours contracts could lose all income. The same distinction applies now: greater purchasing power and wealth do not tell the whole story. The 2024 Health Monitor for Young Adults found that about half of Dutch people aged 16 to 25 rated their mental health as moderate to very poor, despite the stronger financial position of younger generations.

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The fact that the younger generation has more purchasing power and greater wealth than the previous generation at the same age does not tell us everything.