Editing Generation X (section)

===Globally ===
Although, globally, children and adolescents of Generation X will have been heavily influenced by U.S. cultural industries with shared global currents (e.g., rising divorce rates, the AIDS epidemic, advancements in [[Information and communications technology|ICT]]), there is not one U.S.-born-and-raised concept but multiple perspectives and geographical outgrowths. Even within the period of analysis, inside national communities, commonalities will have differed on the basis of one's birth date. The generation, Christine Henseler also remarks, was shaped as much by real-world events, within national borders, determined by specific political, cultural, and historical incidents. She adds "In other words, it is in between both real, clearly bordered spaces and more fluid global currents that we can spot the spirit of Generation X."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Henseler|first=Christine|title=Generation X Goes Global: Mapping a Youth Culture in Motion|publisher=Routledge|year=2012|isbn=978-0-415-69944-0|pages=15}}</ref> 

In 2016, a global consumer insights project from [[Viacom International Media Networks]] and [[Viacom (2005–present)|Viacom]], based on over 12,000 respondents across 21 countries,<ref>{{Cite news|last=Rodriguez|first=Ashley|title=Generation X's rebellious nature helped reinvent adulthood|language=en-US|newspaper=Quartz|url=http://qz.com/812502/generation-x-has-found-its-groove-in-middle-age-according-to-a-new-study-from-viacom/|access-date=20 October 2016|archive-date=20 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161020112117/http://qz.com/812502/generation-x-has-found-its-groove-in-middle-age-according-to-a-new-study-from-viacom/|url-status=live}}</ref> reported on Gen X's unconventional approach to sex, friendship, and family,<ref>{{Cite news|date=22 September 2016|title=Gen X's Unconventional Approach To Sex, Friendship and Family|language=en-US|newspaper=Viacom International Insights|url=http://internationalinsights.viacom.com/post/gen-xs-unconventional-approach-to-sex-friendship-and-family/|access-date=20 October 2016|archive-date=20 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161020120209/http://internationalinsights.viacom.com/post/gen-xs-unconventional-approach-to-sex-friendship-and-family/|url-status=live}}</ref> their desire for flexibility and fulfillment at work<ref>{{Cite news|date=29 September 2016|title=At Work, Gen X Want Flexibility and Fulfilment More Than a Corner Office|language=en-US|newspaper=Viacom International Insights|url=http://internationalinsights.viacom.com/post/at-work-gen-x-want-flexibility-and-fulfilment-more-than-a-corner-office/|access-date=20 October 2016|archive-date=20 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161020115412/http://internationalinsights.viacom.com/post/at-work-gen-x-want-flexibility-and-fulfilment-more-than-a-corner-office/|url-status=live}}</ref> and the absence of [[midlife crisis]] for Gen Xers.<ref>{{Cite news|date=4 October 2016|title=For Gen X, Midlife Is No Crisis|language=en-US|newspaper=Viacom International Insights|url=http://internationalinsights.viacom.com/post/for-gen-x-midlife-is-no-crisis/|access-date=20 October 2016|archive-date=20 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161020115151/http://internationalinsights.viacom.com/post/for-gen-x-midlife-is-no-crisis/|url-status=live}}</ref> The project also included a 20&nbsp;min documentary titled ''Gen X Today''.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Taylor|first1=Anna|date=20 October 2016|title=Gen X Today: The Documentary|publisher=Viacom International Insights|url=http://internationalinsights.viacom.com/post/gen-x-today-the-documentary/|access-date=28 January 2017|archive-date=3 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230203080705/https://insights.paramount.com/post/gen-x-today-the-documentary/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Russia ====
In [[Russia]], Generation Xers are referred to as "the last Soviet children", as the last children to come of age prior to the downfall of [[communism]] in their nation and prior to the [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union]].<ref name="McCrindle">{{cite news|last1=McCrindle|first1=Mark|title=Generations Defined|url=http://mccrindle.com.au/resources/whitepapers/McCrindle-Research_ABC-01_Generations-Defined_Mark-McCrindle.pdf|access-date=18 June 2016|publisher=McCrindle Research Center|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160616232732/http://mccrindle.com.au/resources/whitepapers/McCrindle-Research_ABC-01_Generations-Defined_Mark-McCrindle.pdf|archive-date=16 June 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> Those that reached adulthood in the 1980s and grew up educated in the doctrines of [[Marxism]] and [[Leninism]] found themselves against a background of economic and social change, with the advent of [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] to power and ''[[Perestroika]]''. However, even before the collapse of the Soviet Union and the disbanding of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]], surveys demonstrated that Russian young people repudiated the key features of the Communist worldview that their party leaders, schoolteachers, and even parents had tried to instill in them.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Bernbaum|first=John A|date=9 July 1996|title=Russia's "Generation X": Who Are They?|url=http://beam-inc.org/russias-generation-x-who-are-they/|website=beam-inc.org|access-date=9 March 2020|archive-date=18 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210718085934/http://beam-inc.org/russias-generation-x-who-are-they/|url-status=usurped}}</ref> This generation, caught in the transition between [[Marxism–Leninism]] and an unknown future, and wooed by the new domestic political classes, remained largely apathetic.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Stanley|first=Alessandra|date=6 June 1996|title=To Win Russia's 'Generation X', Yeltsin Is Pumping Up the Volume|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/06/world/to-win-russia-s-generation-x-yeltsin-is-pumping-up-the-volume.html|journal=The New York Times|access-date=9 March 2020|archive-date=6 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200906220252/https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/06/world/to-win-russia-s-generation-x-yeltsin-is-pumping-up-the-volume.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== France ====
In France, "Generation X" is not as widely known or used to define its members. Politically, this loosely denotes those born in the early 1960s to the early 1980s.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sally|first=Marthaler|title=Partisan De-Alignment and the Blue-Collar Electorate in France|publisher=Springer Nature Switzerland AG|year=2020|isbn=978-3-030-35467-1|pages=59}}</ref> Although fertility rates started to fall in 1965, number of births in France only followed suit in 1975.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Monnier |first=Alain |title=Le baby-boom : suite et fin |url=https://www.cairn.info/revue-population-et-societes-2007-2-page-1.htm |journal=Population & Sociétés |date=2007 |language=French |volume=2 |issue=431 |pages=4 |doi=10.3917/popsoc.431.0001 |access-date=24 July 2022 |archive-date=3 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230203080704/https://www.cairn.info/revue-population-et-societes-2007-2-page-1.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> There is general agreement that, domestically, the event that is accepted in France as the separating point between the Baby Boomer generation and Generation X are the [[May 68|French strikes and violent riots of May 1968]] with those of the generation too young to participate. Those at the start of the cohort are sometimes referred to as 'Génération Bof' because of their tendency to use the word 'bof', which, translated into English, means "whatever".<ref name="McCrindle" />

The generation is closely associated with socialist [[François Mitterrand]] who served as President of France during two consecutive terms between 1981 and 1995 as most transitioned from teenagers into adulthood during that period. Economically, Xers started when the new labour market was emerging and were the first to fully experience the advent of the post-industrial society. For those at the tail-end of the generation, educational and defence reforms, a new style ''[[Baccalauréat#Baccalauréat général|baccalauréat général]]'' with three distinct streams in 1995 (the preceding programme, introduced in 1968) the 2002 [[Licence Master Doctorat|licence-master-doctorat]] reform for first Millennial graduates ([[Diplôme d'études universitaires générales|DEUG]], Maîtrise, [[Diplome d'Etudes Superieures Specialisees|DESS]] and [[Diplome d'Etudes Approfondies|DEA]] degrees no longer awarded), and the cessation of military conscription in 1997 (for those born after January 1979) are considered as new transition points to the next.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Henseler|first=Christine|title=Generation X Goes Global: Mapping a Youth Culture in Motion|publisher=Routledge|year=2014|isbn=978-0-415-69944-0|location=London|pages=188}}</ref>

====Republic of Ireland====

The term "Generation X" is used to describe [[Irish people]] born between 1965 and 1985; they grew up during [[The Troubles]] and the 1980s [[economic recession]], coming of age during the [[Celtic Tiger]] period of prosperity in the 1990s onward.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/arid-20443236.html|title=All grown up and in their forties: Whatever happened to Generation X?|first=Suzanne|last=Harrington|date=19 February 2017|website=Irish Examiner|access-date=27 June 2021|archive-date=27 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210627181540/https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/arid-20443236.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://irishstudies.nd.edu/events/2020/12/02/irelands-generation-x-with-belinda-mckeon-barry-mccrea/|title=Ireland's Generation X? with Belinda McKeon & Barry McCrea |website=Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies|date=2 December 2020 |access-date=27 June 2021|archive-date=27 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210627181540/https://irishstudies.nd.edu/events/2020/12/02/irelands-generation-x-with-belinda-mckeon-barry-mccrea/|url-status=live}}</ref> The appropriateness of the term to Ireland has been questioned, with [[Darach Ó Séaghdha]] noting that "Generation X is usually contrasted with the one before by growing up in smaller and different family units on account of their parents having greater access to [[contraception]] and [[divorce]] – again, things that were not widely available in Ireland. [''Contraception was only available under prescription in 1978 and without prescription in 1985; divorce was illegal until 1996.''] However, this generation was in prime position to benefit from the Celtic Tiger, the [[Northern Ireland peace process|Peace Process]] and liberalisations introduced on foot of [[EU membership]] and was less likely to [[Irish diaspora|emigrate]] than those that came before and after. You could say that in many ways, these are Ireland's real Boomers."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/the-irish-for-is-this-generation-ireland-progressive-one-because-we-didnt-have-baby-boomers-4664099-Jun2019/|title=The Irish For: Is Ireland more progressive now because we didn't have baby boomers?|first=Darach|last=Ó Séaghdha|website=TheJournal.ie|date=2 June 2019|access-date=27 June 2021|archive-date=27 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210627181538/https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/the-irish-for-is-this-generation-ireland-progressive-one-because-we-didnt-have-baby-boomers-4664099-Jun2019/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Culturally, [[Britpop]], [[Celtic rock]], the [[Irish traditional music|trad revival]], ''[[Father Ted]]'', the [[1990 FIFA World Cup]] and [[rave]] culture were significant.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/comment/2020/08/07/millennials-spirituality-sex-and-the-screen|title=Millennials: spirituality, sex, and the screen|website=Theos Think Tank|access-date=27 June 2021|archive-date=27 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210627181540/https://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/comment/2020/08/07/millennials-spirituality-sex-and-the-screen|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/generation-x-no-it-s-generation-zzzzzz-1.215566|title=Generation X? No, it's Generation Zzzzzz|first=John|last=Waters|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=27 June 2021|archive-date=6 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220206052329/https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/generation-x-no-it-s-generation-zzzzzz-1.215566|url-status=live}}</ref> [[The Divine Comedy]] song "[[Generation Sex]]" (1998) painted a picture of [[hedonism]] in the late 20th century, as well as its effect on the media.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.ie/life/gen-x-spotting-they-ascended-the-ladder-just-as-the-celtic-tiger-was-being-birthed-35473566.html|title=Gen X-spotting: they ascended the ladder just as the Celtic Tiger was being birthed|last=Sweeney|first=Tanya|website=independent|date=24 February 2017 |access-date=27 June 2021|archive-date=27 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210627181539/https://www.independent.ie/life/gen-x-spotting-they-ascended-the-ladder-just-as-the-celtic-tiger-was-being-birthed-35473566.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Greenwald">{{cite web |first=Matthew |last=Greenwald |url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/generation-sex-mt0000377781 |title=The Divine Comedy: 'Generation Sex' – Review |website=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=4 September 2020 |archive-date=6 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220206051136/https://www.allmusic.com/song/generation-sex-mt0000377781 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[David McWilliams (economist)|David McWilliams]]' 2005 book ''[[The Pope's Children|The Pope's Children: Ireland's New Elite]]'' profiled Irish people born in the 1970s (just prior to the [[Pope John Paul II's visit to Ireland|papal visit to Ireland]]), which was a [[baby boom]] that saw Ireland's population increase for the first time since the [[Great Famine (Ireland)|1840s Great Famine]]. The Pope's Children were in position to benefit from the Celtic Tiger and the newly liberal culture, where the [[Catholic Church]] had significantly less social power.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thejournal.ie/pope-john-pauls-rte-4020761-May2018/|title=If you were named John Paul after the Pope's 1979 visit, RTÉ is looking for you|first=Gráinne Ní|last=Aodha|website=TheJournal.ie|date=19 May 2018|access-date=27 June 2021|archive-date=27 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210627181538/https://www.thejournal.ie/pope-john-pauls-rte-4020761-May2018/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio-web/born-in-1981-am-i-part-of-generation-x-or-generation-y-1.2755760|title=Born in 1981, am I part of Generation X or Generation Y?|first=Conor|last=Ward|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=27 June 2021|archive-date=6 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220206144712/https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio-web/born-in-1981-am-i-part-of-generation-x-or-generation-y-1.2755760|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== United Kingdom ====

===== As children, adolescents and young adults =====

====== Political environment ======
The United Kingdom's [[Economic and Social Research Council]] described Generation X as "Thatcher's children" because the cohort grew up while [[Margaret Thatcher]] was Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990, "a time of social flux and transformation". Those born in the late 1960s and early 1970s grew up in a period of social unrest. While unemployment was low in the early 1970s, industrial and social unrest escalated. Strike action culminated in the "[[Winter of Discontent]]" in 1978–79, and [[the Troubles]] began to unfold in [[Northern Ireland]]. The turn to neoliberal policies introduced and maintained by consecutive conservative governments from 1979 to 1997 marked the end of the [[post-war consensus]].<ref name=":0" />

====== Education ======
The almost universal dismantling of the [[grammar school]] system in Great Britain during the 1960s and the 1970s meant that the vast majority of the cohort attended [[comprehensive school]]s. [[Compulsory education]] ended at the age of 16.<ref>{{cite book|last=Reitan|first=Earl Aaron|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7qaMqwGRE00C&pg=PA14|title=The Thatcher Revolution: Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair, and the Transformation of Modern Britain, 1979–2001|year=2003|page=14|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=9780742522039 |access-date=11 April 2021|archive-date=3 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230203080703/https://books.google.com/books?id=7qaMqwGRE00C&pg=PA14|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> As older members of the cohort reached the end of their mandatory schooling, levels of educational enrollment among older adolescents remained below much of the [[Western world]]. By the early 1980s, some 80% to 90% of school leavers in France and West Germany received [[vocational training]], compared with 40% in the United Kingdom. By the mid-1980s, over 80% of pupils in the United States and West Germany and over 90% in Japan stayed in education until the age of eighteen, compared with 33% of British pupils.<ref name="MacDowall2000">{{cite book|last=MacDowall|first=David|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eyK2MgEACAAJ|title=Britain in Close-up: An In-depth Study of Contemporary Britain|publisher=Longman|year=2000|access-date=11 April 2021|archive-date=3 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230203080704/https://books.google.com/books?id=eyK2MgEACAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> There was, however, broadly a rise in education levels among this age range as Generation X passed through it.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Bolton|first=Paul|date=27 November 2012|title=Education: Historical statistics|url=https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn04252/|access-date=10 April 2021|website=House of commons Library|archive-date=25 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210525002800/https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn04252/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1990, 25% of young people in England stayed in some kind of full-time education after the age of 18, this was an increase from 15% a decade earlier.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Coughlan|first=Sean|date=26 September 2019|title=The symbolic target of 50% at university reached|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/education-49841620|access-date=10 April 2021|archive-date=11 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411010003/https://www.bbc.com/news/education-49841620|url-status=live}}</ref> Later, the [[Further and Higher Education Act 1992]] and the liberalisation of higher education in the UK saw greater numbers of those born towards the tail-end of the generation gaining university places.<ref name=":0">{{cite news|date=11 March 2016|title=Thatcher's children: the lives of Generation X|publisher=Economic and Social Research Council|url=http://www.esrc.ac.uk/news-events-and-publications/news/news-items/thatcher-s-children-the-lives-of-generation-x/|url-status=dead|access-date=2 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160729024605/http://www.esrc.ac.uk/news-events-and-publications/news/news-items/thatcher-s-children-the-lives-of-generation-x/|archive-date=29 July 2016}}</ref>

====== Employment ======
The 1980s, when some of Generation X reached working age, was an era defined by high unemployment rates.<ref>{{Cite news|date=9 April 2013|title=The Thatcher years in statistics|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-22070491|access-date=10 April 2021|archive-date=11 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411010003/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-22070491|url-status=live}}</ref> This was particularly true of the youngest members of the working aged population. In 1984, 26% of 16 to 24 year olds were neither in full-time education or participating in the workforce.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Smith|first=Nicola|date=15 December 2009|title=1980s recession was worse for young people|url=https://leftfootforward.org/2009/12/1980s-recession-was-worse-for-young-people/|access-date=10 April 2021|website=Left Foot Forward|language=en-GB|archive-date=11 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411010004/https://leftfootforward.org/2009/12/1980s-recession-was-worse-for-young-people/|url-status=live}}</ref> However, this figure did decrease as the economic situation improved reaching 17% by 1993.<ref>{{Cite web|date=January 2010|title=Youth Unemployment: Déjà Vu?|url=https://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/2117/1/SEDP-2010-04-Bell-Blanchflower%5B1%5D.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012200101/https://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/2117/1/SEDP-2010-04-Bell-Blanchflower%5B1%5D.pdf |archive-date=12 October 2016 |url-status=live|website=University of Sterling}}</ref>

===== In midlife =====
Generation X were far more likely to have children out of wedlock than their parents. The number of babies being born to unmarried parents in [[England and Wales]] rose from 11% in 1979, a quarter in 1998, 40% by 2002 and almost half in 2012. They were also significantly more likely to have children later in life than their predecessors. The average age of a mother giving birth rose from 27 in 1982 to 30 in 2012. That year saw 29,994 children born to mothers over the age 40, an increase of 360% from 2002.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Duggan|first=Oliver|date=11 July 2013|title=Half of all babies born out of wedlock|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/half-of-all-babies-born-out-of-wedlock-8703059.html|access-date=3 August 2021|website=The Independent|language=en|archive-date=3 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230203080709/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/half-of-all-babies-born-out-of-wedlock-8703059.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

A 2016 study of over 2,500 British office workers conducted by [[Workfront]] found that survey respondents of all ages selected those from Generation X as the hardest-working employees and members of the workforce (chosen by 60%).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.workfront.com/sites/default/files/2019-04/uk-state-of-work-report-nonmarketing.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402170516/https://www.workfront.com/sites/default/files/2019-04/uk-state-of-work-report-nonmarketing.pdf |archive-date=2 April 2019 |url-status=live |title=The UK State of Work Report |date=2016 |publisher=Workfront |access-date=22 July 2021 }}</ref> Gen X was also ranked highest among fellow workers for having the strongest [[work ethic]] (chosen by 59.5%), being the most helpful (55.4%), the most skilled (54.5%), and the best troubleshooters/problem-solvers (41.6%).<ref>{{cite news|last1=Leeming|first1=Robert|date=19 February 2016|title=Generation X-ers found to be the best workers in the UK|publisher=HR Review|url=http://www.hrreview.co.uk/hr-news/strategy-news/generation-x-ers-are-found-to-be-the-best-workers-in-the-uk/61386|access-date=19 June 2016|archive-date=11 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160811133219/http://www.hrreview.co.uk/hr-news/strategy-news/generation-x-ers-are-found-to-be-the-best-workers-in-the-uk/61386|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Frith|first1=Bek|date=23 February 2016|title=Are generation X the UK's hardest workers?|magazine=HR Magazine|url=http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/article-details/are-generation-x-the-uks-hardest-workers|access-date=19 June 2016|archive-date=31 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160531022748/http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/article-details/are-generation-x-the-uks-hardest-workers|url-status=live}}</ref>

===== Political evolution =====
[[Ipsos MORI]] reports that at the [[1987 United Kingdom general election|1987]] and [[1992 United Kingdom general election|1992]] general elections, the first [[List of United Kingdom general elections|United Kingdom general elections]] where significant numbers of Generation X members could vote, a plurality of 18 to 24 year olds opted for the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] by a small margin. The polling organisation's figures suggest that in 1987, 39% of that age group voted Labour, 37% for the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservatives]] and 22% for the [[SDP–Liberal Alliance]]. Five years later, these numbers were fairly similar at 38% Labour, 35% Conservative and 19% [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrats]], a party by then formed from the previously mentioned alliance. Both these elections saw a fairly significant lead for the Conservatives in the popular vote among the general population.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|date=12 May 2010|title=How Britain Voted 1974 - 2010|url=https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/how-britain-voted-october-1974|website=Ipsos Mori|access-date=2 August 2021|archive-date=2 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210802140820/https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/how-britain-voted-october-1974|url-status=live}}</ref>

At the 1997 General election where Labour won a large majority of seats and a comfortable lead in the popular vote, research suggests that voters under the age of 35 were more likely to vote Labour if they turned out than the wider electorate but significantly less likely to vote than in 1992. Analysts suggested this may have been due to fewer differences in policies between the major parties and young people having less of a sense of affiliation with particular political parties than older generations.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Foster|first=Katie|date=23 September 2016|title=Turnout gap between young and old voters could be Tony Blair's fault|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/tony-blair-turnout-gap-young-old-general-elections-1997-voters-2015-election-new-labour-a7326131.html|access-date=2 August 2021|website=The Independent|language=en|archive-date=2 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210802140818/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/tony-blair-turnout-gap-young-old-general-elections-1997-voters-2015-election-new-labour-a7326131.html|url-status=live}}</ref> A similar trend continued at the [[2001 United Kingdom general election|2001]] and [[2005 United Kingdom general election|2005]] general elections as turnout dropped further among both the relatively young and the wider public.<ref name=":68">{{Cite web|title=Voter turnout in the UK 1918-2019|url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/1050929/voter-turnout-in-the-uk/|access-date=19 June 2021|website=Statista|language=en|archive-date=4 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210504175331/https://www.statista.com/statistics/1050929/voter-turnout-in-the-uk/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|date=December 2018|title=Increasing Youth Voter Turnout|url=https://www.lse.ac.uk/PBS/assets/documents/Increasing-Youth-Voter-Turnout.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210607110218/https://www.lse.ac.uk/PBS/assets/documents/Increasing-Youth-Voter-Turnout.pdf |archive-date=7 June 2021 |url-status=live|journal=London School of Economics and Political Science}}</ref>

Voter turnout across the electorate began to recover from a 2001 low until the [[2017 United Kingdom general election|2017 general election]].<ref name=":68" /> Generation X also became more likely to vote as they entered the midlife age demographics. Polling suggests a plurality of their age group backed the Conservatives in [[2010 United Kingdom general election|2010]] and [[2015 United Kingdom general election|2015]] but less overwhelming than much of the older generation.<ref>{{Cite web|date=21 May 2010|title=How Britain Voted in 2010|url=https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/how-britain-voted-2010|access-date=2 August 2021|archive-date=4 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180104013908/https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/how-britain-voted-2010|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Kellner|first=Peter|date=8 June 2015|title=General election 2015: how Britain really voted|url=https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2015/06/08/general-election-2015-how-britain-really-voted|access-date=2 August 2021|website=yougov.co.uk|language=en-gb|archive-date=2 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210802140818/https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2015/06/08/general-election-2015-how-britain-really-voted|url-status=live}}</ref> At the [[2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum|2016 EU membership referendum]] and [[2017 United Kingdom general election|2017 general election]], Generation X was split with younger members appearing to back remain and Labour and older members tending towards Leave and Conservative in a British electorate more polarised by age than ever before.<ref>{{Cite web|date=5 September 2016|title=How Britain voted in the 2016 EU referendum|url=https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/how-britain-voted-2016-eu-referendum|website=Ipsos MORI|access-date=2 August 2021|archive-date=29 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210629014501/https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/how-britain-voted-2016-eu-referendum|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Curtis|first=Chris|date=13 June 2017|title=How Britain voted at the 2017 general election|url=https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2017/06/13/how-britain-voted-2017-general-election|access-date=2 August 2021|website=yougov.co.uk|language=en-gb|archive-date=2 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210802140820/https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2017/06/13/how-britain-voted-2017-general-election|url-status=live}}</ref> At the 2019 general election, voting trends continued to be heavily divided by age but a plurality<!-- Plurality means the largest minority --> of younger as well as older generation X members (then 39 to 55 year olds) voted Conservative.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Curtis|first=Chris|date=17 December 2019|title=How Britain voted in the 2019 general election|url=https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2019/12/17/how-britain-voted-2019-general-election|access-date=2 August 2021|website=yougov.co.uk|language=en-gb|archive-date=2 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210802070549/https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2019/12/17/how-britain-voted-2019-general-election|url-status=live}}</ref>[[File:BerlinWall-BrandenburgGate.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|The [[fall of the Berlin Wall]] in 1989 was a landmark event in Generation X's formative years.|297x297px]]

==== Germany ====
In Germany, "Generation X" is not widely used or applied. Instead, reference is sometimes made to "Generation Golf" in the previous [[West German]] republic, based on a novel by [[Florian Illies]]. In the east, children of the "Mauerfall" or coming down of the wall. For former [[East German]]s, there was adaptation, but also a sense of loss of accustomed values and structures. These effects turned into romantic narratives of their childhood. For those in the West, there was a period of discovery and exploration of what had been a forbidden land.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Henseler|first=Christine|title=Generation X Goes Global: Mapping a Youth Culture in Motion|publisher=Routledge|year=2012|isbn=978-0-415-69944-0|pages=148}}</ref>

==== South Africa ====
In [[South Africa]], Gen Xers spent their formative years of the 1980s during the "hyper-politicized environment of the final years of [[apartheid]]".<ref>{{cite news|last1=Schenk|first1=Jan|date=November 2010|title=Locating generation X: Taste and identity in transitional South Africa|publisher=Centre For Social Science Research|issue=CSSR Working Paper No. 284|url=https://open.uct.ac.za/bitstream/item/22088/Schenk_Locating_Generation_X_Taste_2012.pdf?sequence=1|access-date=25 August 2016|archive-date=26 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160826202032/https://open.uct.ac.za/bitstream/item/22088/Schenk_Locating_Generation_X_Taste_2012.pdf?sequence=1|url-status=live}}</ref>