Generation Alpha

Generation Alpha, often shortened to Gen Alpha, is the demographic cohort succeeding Generation Z and preceding the proposed Generation Beta. While researchers and popular media loosely identify the early 2010s as the starting birth years and the 2020s as the ending birth years, these ranges are not precisely defined and may vary depending on the source . Named after alpha, the first letter of the Greek alphabet, Generation Alpha is the first to be born entirely in the 21st century and the third millennium. The majority of Generation Alpha are the children of Millennials.

Generation Alpha is the first full generation not to have known a world without smartphones and social media. They were born at a time of falling fertility rates across much of the world, and experienced the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic as young children. In the 2020s, children's entertainment has been increasingly dominated by portable digital technology, social networks, and streaming services, with interest in traditional television concurrently falling. Changes in the use of technology in classrooms and other aspects of life have had a significant effect on how this generation has experienced early learning compared to previous generations. Studies have suggested that health problems related to screen time, allergies, and obesity became increasingly prevalent in the late 2010s.

The name Generation Alpha originated from a 2008 survey conducted by the Australian consulting agency McCrindle Research, according to founder Mark McCrindle, who is generally credited with the term. McCrindle describes how his team arrived at the name in a 2015 interview:

When I was researching my book The ABC of XYZ: Understanding the Global Generations (published in 2009) it became apparent that a new generation was about to commence and there was no name for them. So I conducted a survey (we're researchers after all) to find out what people think the generation after Z should be called and while many names emerged, and Generation A was the most mentioned, Generation Alpha got some mentions too and so I settled on that for the title of the chapter Beyond Z: Meet Generation Alpha. It just made sense as it is in keeping with scientific nomenclature of using the Greek alphabet in lieu of the Latin and it didn't make sense to go back to A, after all they are the first generation wholly born in the 21st Century and so they are the start of something new not a return to the old.

McCrindle Research also took inspiration from the naming of hurricanes, specifically the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season in which the names beginning with the letters of the Latin alphabet were exhausted, and the last six storms were named with the Greek letters alpha to zeta. "Generation Alpha" is sometimes shortened to "Generation A".

In 2020 and 2021, some anticipated that the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic would become this generation's defining event, suggesting the name Generation C or "Coronials" for those either born during, or growing up during, the pandemic. Psychologist Jean Twenge refers to this cohort as "Polars" in light of the growing political polarization of the United States during the 2010s and 2020s, as well as the melting of polar ice caps, a sign of (anthropogenic) climate change. This demographic cohort has also been dubbed "Generation AI" in light of the increasing role of artificial intelligence (AI) in daily activities and the "iPad kids" after a popular series of tablet computers.

There is no consensus yet on the birth years for Generation Alpha. McCrindle Research uses 2010–2024 with some news outlets citing them, while others using shorter ranges, such as 2011–2021 or 2013–2021. However other sources, while they have not specified a range for Generation Alpha, have specified end years for Generation Z of 2012 or 2013, which suggests a later date range instead of McCrindle's for Generation Alpha. For example, psychologist Jean Twenge defines Generation Alpha as those born from 2013 to 2029. The Annie E. Casey Foundation defines Generation Alpha as those born from 2013 to 2025. The Cambridge Dictionary, which added Gen Alpha to its corpus in 2025, defines this cohort generally as people born during the 2010s and 2020s.

Despite the defined boundary between Generation Z and Generation Alpha not being universally agreed upon, individuals born in the cusp years between the two demographic cohorts are sometimes assorted into a "micro-generation" known as Zalphas.