The Health of Millennials

Nearly 73 million people in the U.S. are millennials—people born between 1981 and 1996 and who were 21 to 36 years old in 2017. This report focuses on the 55 million millennial Americans that are commercially insured.¹

According to the Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) Health Index, in 2017, millennials had an average BCBS Health Index of 95.1, meaning millennials as a group were living at about 95% of their optimal health.² However, further data analysis reveals that older millennials (age 34-36) have higher prevalence rates for nearly all of the top 10 conditions than did Generation X members when they were in the same age range (age 34-36). With younger generations facing health challenges at earlier ages than previous generations, measuring the health of millennials is critical to improving this generation’s long-term health and wellness.

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ENDNOTES

1. Generational definitions based upon Pew Research. While this report focuses on the 55 million commercially insured millennials, the remaining millennials in the U.S. are either insured through a public program or are uninsured.
2. The BCBS Health Index assigns U.S. populations a score between 0 and 100. A score of ‘100’ represents optimal health—a population’s potential lifespan, absent of disability and increased risk of death. The higher the score, the closer a population is to achieving optimal health. The lower the score, the more a population has been adversely impacted by certain health conditions.