What is American Gen Z could actually be Kenyan Millennials

A group of young people take a selfie. (Courtesy/iStock)

A generation, for purposes of demographic and historical studies, is a group within a population born within a certain period. This period is estimated to be between twenty and thirty years. The basis of determining a generation are different. Some peg it on the duration a population takes to double itself, the average age between parents and their offspring or the age at which a definite group in a population is expected to begin to reproduce.

Globally, since 1900, generations are as follows:

The Lost Generation, who are also called The Greatest Generation in America, were born before 1927. They are followed by Silent Generation, who were born between 1927 and 1945 and then the bombers of Baby Boomers who followed the World War II bombs. The Boomers, as they are commonly known, were born between 1946 and 1964.

Generation X follow them from 1965 to 1980 from where Millennials pick up until 1996. Millennials are also known as Generation Y in some circles. The now famous Generation Z or Gen Z are people born between 1997 and 2012. They are the new kids on the political block. The current children in primary school are Generation Alphas, born from 2013 to date.

These demographic cohorts are, however, too American. The USA has had a different trajectory in development in as much as most of the world peg their social and political positions to theirs.

World War II was big to America and it catapulted them out of the Great Depression into the super power it is today. America developed many industries beyond their labour capacity to support war efforts.

These industries provided Americans with higher wages and better lifestyle in the post war era. The result was the civil rights movement of 1960s among other cultural shifts. 

The first recorded use of “baby boomer” was in a January 1963 article by Leslie J Nason. He described them in relation to a surge in college enrollments as the children born from the tail end of WWII were coming of age.

The oldest Baby Boomers turned eighteen in 1963 just as Kenya was celebrating independence from Britain.

Meanwhile, colonialism and independence marks an epoch for developing countries like Kenya. The Kenyan Baby Boomers were born to parents under a State of Emergency. On the other side, the parents of American Baby Boomers were clocking shifts in production lines. It is after independence that Kenyan economy opened up to locals. Kenyans took up most of the jobs and businesses that were held by settlers, lifting their economic status and quality of life. This makes 1963 to Kenya what 1945 is to America.

Kenya’s Baby Boomers are what we refer to as Generation X. These are Kenyans who were too young or not yet born when Kenya attained independence but grew up in post independent Kenya. Kenya’s undergraduate enrollment rose from about 450 in 1963 to 5450 in 1983.

Our Baby Boomers had come of age and public universities increased from one in the 1960s to four in 1980s. The Kenyan Boomers had taken advantage of expanded secondary education to send their children to school. Urging them to go to college so as to take advantage of available opportunities.

Kenya began an industrialisation programme in the late 1960s into the early 1970s. This is what turned Thika, Nakuru and Eldoret into industrial towns. The children born in Kenya from 1981 are our Generation X and not Generation Y. This is because they were born to parents who took advantage of our growing economy.

American Generation X are described as better educated, self-reliant and individualistic. The children who were born from 1963 began to have babies around 1980. American Gen X were born when America was pushing birth control pills. Kenya government was big on “family planning” from around mid-1980s.

This makes the current Gen Z Kenya’s Millennials. The American Millennials are said to have grown with the internet. In Kenya, internet became available to the public from around 1997, this makes Kenya’s Gen Z as the generation that grew up with the growth of internet after the turn of the century. It is Kenya’s Gen-Z that were born during a decline of our fertility rate just like the American Millennials.

I acknowledge that the internet also narrowed down the generation gap. However, just like CAF changed African Cup of Champions to Champions League when UEFA did the same in Europe, we tend to be to American-centric in many areas. It is in order for us to define our demographics by our own development and historical trajectories.

It may look like re-inventing the wheel but our reality is different. The Structural Adjustment Programmes and the AIDS scourge peak of 1990s defined the reality of children born after 1997.

Parents who gave birth from 1997 are the ones who have given us Gen Zs who have been demonstrating since last week.

That is why I believe that Kenya is one generation behind the cohorts that define American demographics.