Millennial, Gen Z women face more health and safety threats than prior generations: study

Millennial and Gen Z women have higher risks to their health than older generations, a new analysis has found.

A report released Thursday by the Population Reference Bureau found that women born after 1981 had heightened risks to their physical well-being and safety compared to their mothers and grandmothers.

Looking at federal data on how women in their 20s and 30s have gotten along across different generations, the research found that millennial and Gen Z women have a higher risk of suicide, death in childbirth and being murdered than young women in previous generations.

The organization pointed to a few key elements behind the struggles of the younger generations, such as harmful social media content, impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, heightened political divisions and rising inflation. Reproduction health, including state restrictions on abortion, was also cited as a reason.

The Population Reference Bureau is a private, nonpartisan non-profit organization that has been a long-term partner to the U.S. Census Bureau, examining issues such as gender and poverty.

Millennials are defined in the report, titled “Losing More Ground: Revisiting Young Women’s Well-Being Across Generations,” as those born between 1981 and 1999, and Gen Z as born in 2000 and later.

Regardless of having more educational opportunities and higher pay than older generations, “structural barriers to health and safety are preventing many of them from reaching their full potential,” Diana Elliott, vice president for U.S. programs at the Population Reference Bureau, said in a news release.

A huge jump in suicide rates across generations was also noted in the report. In the 1960s and 70s, when baby boomers were teenagers, the suicide rate was three girls for every 100,000. Now, Gen Z female teenagers are experiencing a suicide rate of five girls for every 100,000 — an unprecedented number.

Deaths in childbirth a decade ago was at a rate of 19 per 100,000, while the maternal mortality rate among millennials is 30 deaths per 100,000.

“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,” Elliott said.

On a positive note, 43.6% of young women now are more likely to get a degree, compared to 28% of Gen X women. The incarceration rate among young women has decreased by nearly 20 percentage points — the first decline in more than 50 years.