Millennial, Gen Z Women Fare Worse Than Women of Previous Generations: Study

A new report shows that young women aged 25 to 34 face more health threats than previous generations.

Ivo Mill/Shutterstock

Contrary to the aims of the movement for female empowerment, a new report shows that young women aged 25 to 34 face more health threats than previous generations.

The study compared health and equity issues for women of different generations at ages 25 to 34. According to the report conducted by the Population Reference Bureau (PRB), a nonprofit research organization, progress has halted, with Generation X (Gen X) and Millennial women’s physical health and safety declining in recent years.

According to PRB, Gen X individuals include those born between 1965 and 1980. Those born between 1981 and 1999 are considered Millennials, though the years vary slightly depending on the source.

“Increased rates of suicide and homicide, and a lack of access to health care services like safe abortion, have the combined effect of reversing the health and safety gains women of previous generations experienced, especially women of color,” Diana Elliott, vice president for U.S. programs at the PRB, said in a Nov. 30 press release.

Generations of Progress Losing Ground

“Despite decades of progress between the 1960s and 1990s, each generation of women in the United States does not do better than the generation before,” the study reports. Moreover, the promise of progress diminishes with each generation. Researchers point to the following key takeaways of the report as examples:

• Suicide rates among women ages 25 to 34 have risen from 4.4 deaths per 100,000 for Gen X to 7 deaths per 100,000 for Millennial women.
• Suicide rates have declined among young white women but are nearly three times as high in women of color.
• Maternal mortality rates have soared from 19.2 deaths per 100,000 live births between 2013 and 2015 to 30.4 deaths between 2019 and 2021.
• Homicide rates have also increased among young women, from 4.3 deaths per 100,000 for Gen X to 4.5 deaths for Millennials. The rates have increased by nearly 60 percent for black Millennial women.

Millennial women, in particular, are faring worse than previous generations, with their overall well-being ranking 6 percent lower than that of the women who came before them. Researchers noted that Millennial women are more educated but less advantaged than previous generations. Millennial women are more likely to be living in poverty than Gen X women at the same life stage.

The unemployment rate for Millennial women hasn’t changed since 2017—the last time the study was conducted—hovering at 5.9 percent, nearly two points above the national average. These women earn almost 90 cents for every dollar a Millennial man earns. The study also found that, regarding science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers, most women must attain higher levels of education to earn as much as men in the same field.

More startling than the economic gaps for Millennial women is their well-being in relation to other generations, researchers noted. “Women today are more likely to die during their late 20s and early 30s than at any other point in the previous three generations,” the authors wrote. While COVID-19 is a contributing factor, researchers do not consider it a smoking gun; homicide, maternal mortality, and suicide rates have all risen for Millennial women over the past decade.

Progress Stifled Worldwide

Researchers noted they couldn’t “fully untangle why outcomes may be different across generations, but that fact should not diminish the importance of understanding change over time for young women in the United States.”

The report coincides with a study by researchers in Sydney who also found that mental health in developed nations—especially among young people—has been declining for years.

“Much of the focus to date has been on the declining mental health of school-aged children and adolescents, where we expect their mental health to eventually improve as they enter adulthood. But this study shows this pattern is changing and that it is not just the kids we need to worry about,” lead study author Richard Morris, a senior research fellow in the University of Sydney’s Faculty of Medicine & Health, said in a press statement.