The American Dream Is Dead. Millennials Are OBLITERATED

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0:00Millennials are dying. Literally. And no one seems to care.

0:04This generation, constantly criticized by Boomers and mocked by Gen Z, is quietly struggling to

0:09survive. In 2019, Millennials aged 25 to 34 hit 128.8 deaths per 100,000… a number not seen since

0:18the mid-90s. Then COVID pushed it past 180. Why is this generation facing a crisis no one

0:24talks about? What made Millennials this way, and who - or what - shaped their struggles?

0:29I’m Josh, and on today’s episode of The Infographics Show,

0:32we’re exploring the psychology of a millennial. Whether people like it or not, Millennials are

0:36shaping the world. With 72.1 million of them now outnumbering the Baby Boomers, their impact is

0:42impossible to overlook. There’s some other good - and unexpected - data points about Millennials.

0:47They’re the most independent generation in history. Not just in recent decades.

0:52But in recorded history. 2025 data by Solsten shows that, contrary

0:57to what Boomers - their parents - might think, Millennials rank extremely high in self-reliance

1:02and autonomy. In other words, they don’t just go with the flow, they carve their own path.

1:07 Makes sense.

1:08They’re the only generation left in the office who can use the computer without assistance.

1:13But a lot of other things in their lives… aren’t going so well.

1:34In 2022, nearly 16% of Millennials still lived with their parents. And at that time,

1:39the youngest millennial was already 26 years old. Let’s say you’re a 32-year old millennial who’s

1:45moved back home with your parents. Over the past year, you’ve sent out 500 job applications. You

1:50started with positions in your field, then tried ones somewhat related… and now? You’re just

1:56sending applications to anything that pays. And the worst part?

1:59You’re a month away from seriously considering an OnlyFans account.

2:03 Your father doesn’t understand why you can’t just go introduce yourself to someone at the

2:07company and say you’re looking for work. 62% of his generation agrees with that tactic,

2:12compared to only 40% of Millennials. Boomers stayed at the same job an average of 10 to

2:1715 years. Millennials? They’re lucky to get 3 to 5 years at any one company.

2:22Living together also means bringing two very different psychologies under the same roof.

2:27Especially when it comes to their actual psychological state. Millennials are much

2:31more open about their emotions, their struggles, and are not against seeking

2:35help. In a 2021 survey of 2,000 Americans, 45% of Millennials said they’re willing to seek therapy.

2:41Baby Boomers? That number barely reached 8%. Associate Professor Felix Danbold of the UCL

3:01School of Management found that these two generations express a lot more animosity

3:05towards each other than anyone else. But while Boomers worry that Millennials’ values

3:09will upend their way of life, Millennials are worried about something much more practical

3:14They see older generations refusing to leave their jobs or sell their homes,

3:18and it’s blocking Millennials from building their own future. The result is real, tangible damage

3:23to their careers, finances, and opportunities. That difference in viewpoint might explain why

3:28Millennials are so open to addressing their issues. They were raised with a Boomer “tough

3:33it out” mentality that didn’t really help anyone in their family. So today, they try

3:38to actually work on their mental health. They’re going to need a lot of work.

3:42Because the era Millennials were raised in did serious damage to their psychology.

3:46 Imagine it’s 2003. You’re a Millennial just starting high school. Your body is changing,

3:51and you’re feeling a little self-conscious about it. Pretty normal teenage stuff. But in the 2000s,

3:56when most Millennials were just teens, something went wrong. Media, society, and even their own

4:01families didn’t just notice their struggles They amplified them and made them

4:06a thousand times worse. In the early 2000s, the “heroin

4:09chic” look of the 1990s had fully taken hold in popular culture. In magazines and TV shows,

4:15most women had basically become skin and bones. The consequences were real.

4:19Rates of eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia skyrocketed. According to a

4:24study by Zhao and Encinosa, between 1999-2000 and 2005-2006, eating disorder hospitalization

4:32exploded. This was especially noticeable among Millennials, then in their preteen,

4:37teen years, and early 20s. Hospitalizations increased 18% for people aged 12-19, 19% for

4:44people 19-30, and 119% for those under 12. An entire generation was under attack.

4:51Millennials grew up with some of the most distorted body images of all time. And that

4:55hasn’t changed for many of them. In a 2020 survey tracking body confidence, the least

5:00confident group of women were Millennials. Women aged 25-34 rated their body confidence 37 out of

5:07100. That’s barely half of a failing grade. If you’re enjoying this deep dive into the

5:12psyche of a generation that once thought avocado toast was an investment, make sure you like,

5:16share, and subscribe. It makes our writers feel slightly more like adults, too.

5:20If constantly fighting your body to stay skinny wasn’t exhausting enough,

5:23Millennials would get their first taste of another mindset that would haunt them for life…

5:28Hustle culture. Otherwise known as “the road to burnout”.

5:32 You’re a millennial in 2006, just about to graduate high school. Your parents,

5:36your guidance counselors, the entire world is telling you college is not only important… but

5:41necessary. You might even be the first generation in your family to get a university degree.

5:46You start applying to the best schools you can get into… and then it happens. You get accepted to

5:51your dream school. And then… you see the tuition. Your jaw drops. Maybe you can pick up some extra

5:58work to cover it? Maybe not. Not so fast.

6:02One study found that from 1988 to 2018, tuition at private colleges increased by 129% on average.

6:09The more 'affordable' public school options? Those skyrocketed by a massive 213%

6:15 In the past, people could use the salary from a summer and/or part-time job to pay off their

6:20tuition costs. That wasn’t really the case for most Millennials by the time they got to college.

6:25Guess it’s time for a loan that will in no way, shape, or form,

6:29affect your future. After all, that degree is going to get you a job making serious money,

6:34right? Right?

6:35Not for most Millennials. One study found that by age 35, 17% of Baby Boomers had followed a

6:41path through college to a prestigious - and well-paying - professional career like law or

6:46medicine. At age 35, only 7.3% of Millennials had done the same. That’s less than half.

6:52So why aren’t Millennials making their way into high paying careers,

6:56worsening their psychological load? Well, because the system has made

6:59it almost impossible for them to do so. Creating the awful “hustle culture” that

7:04quickly became “psychological burnout” for most. And why are Millennials burning out?

7:09They entered the job market during one of the worst recessions in recent memory.

7:13Jobs on the ground were scarce, entry-level wages were relatively low, and people were

7:17grateful for anything they could get. Kellogg School of Management professor

7:21of strategy Nicola Bianchi studied the conditions that produced the millennial

7:26“grind” mindset. His work gives us an idea of just how hopeless the job market was for Millennials.

7:31 If you were entering the job market in 2010… good luck to you. The global economy

7:36fell into a hole. Unemployment among your generation is around 12 to 19%,

7:40according to the Pew Research Center. Even though you have a bachelor’s degree in economics you’re

7:46paying thousands in loans every month, all you can get is a job in retail.

7:50It pays the bills. Sort of.

7:52After a couple of years, a position at a company that’s actually related to your field opens up

7:56and boom… you get the job. Just grind for a few years and you can start moving up the ladder.

8:02But soon you notice you’re not moving anywhere at all. And neither are most people around you. Why?

8:07The recession and its aftereffects created a climate in which the Boomer generation became

8:11more hesitant to retire from their senior positions. Moving up the ladder became

8:16more difficult than ever. The result was a mix of hopelessness and endless grinding.

8:21It’s the defining struggle of the Millennial generation.

8:24It also makes Millennials more likely to change companies and careers. They are less optimistic

8:28about the perks of company loyalty and corporate America in general. But they do work much longer

8:34and harder to try to make ends meet, and make a better case for their own path forward.

8:38So contrary to popular belief, Millennials aren’t lazy and blowing all their money. They’re

8:43overworked and poorer than other generations. Worker productivity has increased rapidly from the

8:48time of Boomers in the workforce to today. Between 1979 and 2021, average US worker productivity

8:54increased 64.6%. But wages only went up 17.3%. Oh… and your 64-year-old co-worker at the office

9:03is being paid way more than you. In fact, more than you’ll probably make any time soon. Between

9:091979 and 2018, the wage gap between workers over 55 and those under 35 increased by 61%.

9:17That’s not just a U.S. phenomenon either.  Bianchi’s study found that after Italy raised

9:22its retirement age to 67 in 2011, things got worse for younger workers. Suddenly,

9:28all the rewards were going to senior workers. Everyone else struggled just to get by.

9:33From 1985 to 2019, the mean worker age in Italy increased by 19%. Over the same period, anyone

9:40over 55 also started making bank. 56-year-olds saw a 33% increase in wages, while 65-year-olds saw a

9:4753% increase in wages.

9:49But those under 35? Their wages only went up by 14%. The difference in mean wages

9:55between older and younger workers almost doubled, increasing by 96%.

10:00No wonder Millennials are ending up completely burned out, and much sadder than their boomer

10:05co-workers. Multiple studies have found that they are the most burned out generation of

10:09all. One study found that 66% of Millennials report moderate to high burnout, compared to

10:1439% of Baby Boomers. It gets worse.

10:18Another survey of 1,000 US employees found that 77% of Millennials have experienced

10:24burnout symptoms, compared to only 38% of Boomers. That wage gap coupled with no room for growth is

10:31really doing a number on their mental state. Which is obvious in another survey question,

10:35which found that only 47% of Millennials rated their personal well-being as above

10:40average. 84% of Boomers did the same. We’d all be thrilled if our house

10:44values had quintupled… while we also got the highest raises by far right before retiring.

10:50Scientists aren’t just “guessing” that finances are the main cause

10:53of Millennial burnout and stress either. The APA’s 2023 Stress in America survey

10:58found that Millennials are drowning in financial stress. 67% of 18–34 year olds

11:04and 63% of 35–44 year olds feel completely consumed by money worries. Boomers? Just 13%.

11:12Money is crushing Millennials. And while they have gotten some

11:15pretty weak raises, it doesn't translate to a better quality of life. Oxfam found

11:19that workers aged 25 to 34 are earning about $4,200 less than they would have 30 years ago.

11:26It’s partly a result of increasing inequality across the board in wealthy countries,

11:31something that has been happening for a while now. And general corporate stagnation. Millennials are

11:36better educated than previous generations…while being underpaid, overstressed, and in way more

11:42debt. And they need way more money just to get by, since their share of the nation's wealth is vastly

11:47lower than Boomers at the same age. Progress? Forget it.

11:51But the Federal Reserve has another theory on why Millennials are spending less.

11:55They have less money.

11:57Millennials are not even getting the perks that were almost guaranteed years ago. From

12:012000 to 2021, the number of college grads who got employee-provided healthcare as a

12:06perk dropped by 22%. It created a much more insecure generation. One that hesitates to

12:12pursue major life goals… like starting a family. Millennials are also part of the “sandwich

12:17generation”. That means many are caring for both young kids and aging parents.

12:22It adds even more stress. Part of the reason they are

12:25a “sandwich” generation is because they are waiting until they are older to have

12:28kids - or to be able to afford to have kids. This is thanks to the very high cost of living

12:33in most of the West. It takes people longer to become financially stable these days.

12:37And by “longer” we mean “potentially their entire lives”.

12:41Between 1980 and 2023, the median age for marriage for women has increased by 29%,

12:47from 22 to 28.4. The median age for first birth for women went up by 23%, from 22.6 to 27.9.

12:56Only 13% of Millennials opted for “early” marriage and parenthood. 27% of Baby Boomers did the same.

13:02While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing for some Millennials, waiting for marriage and

13:06kids isn’t a choice, but a financial necessity. Let’s say you’re a millennial woman, 32 years old,

13:12looking to have a child. You know you’ll have to go back to work pretty soon after giving birth,

13:16as your office doesn’t offer much maternity leave. It’s not like you

13:20can easily hop into another job in this economy. So you try to figure out the cost of childcare

13:25and start calling daycare centers in your area. You come up with an average based on

13:29all the quotes you heard. $2,500 a month.

13:33The cost of childcare has increased 220% since 1990. And it’s not even completely

13:38reliable. The 2023 Kids Count report found that more than half of working parents have had to

13:44get to work late or leave early in the last 3 months because of issues with childcare.

13:49Even worse? 23% of those

13:51parents report being fired for those issues. You look back over the budget sheets realizing

13:56not only can you not afford childcare, you might end up losing your job because of it.

14:01That’s not even taking into account all the new clothes, cribs, bottles, and diapers you’ll have

14:06to purchase. Babycenter found that the first year of baby-related costs comes out to around

14:11$20,400 for parents. That doesn’t include giving birth. Or daycare, for the most part.

14:16The costs of raising a baby can eat up to 22% of a household income.

14:20Care.com found that the average parent can give up 29% of their savings for childcare

14:26costs. To put that into perspective, the US Department of Health and Human Services

14:30recommends families should be spending no more than 7% of their household income on childcare.

14:35Because of these extreme costs, half of moms have changed their family plans. A quarter of potential

14:41moms have decided to have fewer children. Extreme costs have influenced every aspect of Millennial

14:46thinking, even one as personal as giving birth. But while a big chunk of the Millennials are

14:51struggling to get by, another segment is doing better than ever. That’s because inequality

14:56has rapidly increased over the years, with the Gini index rising by 25% between 1968 and 2022.

15:04That has created a huge gap in welfare within the Millennial generation. For example,

15:09low-skilled service workers in the Baby Boomer generation could still look forward to a decent

15:14life. 63% of them owned their own homes at age 35. In that same group among Millennials, only

15:2042% own their own homes. The poorest Millennials – around 14% in total – actually have negative

15:27net worth. Compared to only 8.7% of Boomers. This huge inequality gap creates fractured

15:33communities and resentment, which often translates into crime and violence. Coupled with stricter

15:38policing, this has led to a massive increase in incarceration rates among Millennials, compared

15:43to previous generations at the same age…even though the crime rate in the US has gone down.

15:48 What does it all mean?

15:49Millennials have lost their faith.

15:52In 2014, the Pew Research Center found that only 50% of Millennials said they definitely believed

15:57in God. 64% of Gen X and 70% of Baby Boomers said the same. In fact, 35% of Millennials aren’t

16:04affiliated with any organized religion at all.

16:06The scandals that came to light in the Catholic Church probably didn’t help in that regard.

16:10 All this has set some Millennials back and fueled

16:13depression for others. But many, being fiercely independent, are just forging their own path.

16:19Psychologists call it ‘milestone agnosticism.’

16:22Many Millennials don’t believe that there’s a certain age by which they should have

16:25gotten married, started a business, or finished education. People are getting married in their

16:2940s. They’re going back to school in their 30s. Or completely changing career paths at multiple

16:34points throughout their lives.

16:35And this doesn’t scare them as much as it might scare other generations.

16:39That might be because Millennials came of age during terrorist attacks,

16:42international recessions, and one of the worst job markets in recent history. So

16:47there’s nothing this world can throw at them that they haven’t seen some form of.

16:51 But it could also be because

16:52according to the same Solsten data, Millennials also scored the highest of any generation on the

16:57trait labeled as “actions”. Solsten uses that to assess a person’s openness to new experiences.

17:03 Which will serve Millennials

17:04well when they have to deal with the future novel reality of never being able to retire.

17:09The silver lining is that, according to a 2015 study by American University,

17:14speaking about mental health has been normalized in the millennial

17:17generation. Since they grew up hearing about anxiety, depression, and eating disorders,

17:22they’re much more willing to talk about their problems to their friends or with a therapist.

17:26Let’s face it, it’s something they’ll need. And if you want to see how Millennials fit

17:30into the bigger picture - and how every generation got shaped differently - check

17:34out “Every Generation Explained in 10 Minutes.” Or click on this video instead.

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The American Dream Is Dead. Millennials Are OBLITERATED

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