What is the length of a generation in terms of years?

Question

Is there any difference between how long a generation is in terms of the Bible and how long a generation is in present-day parlance?

Answer 1

Sum:
In popular modern thought - 20-25 years
In fact (according to studies) - 30-35 years
In biblical round numbers - 40 years (with 70 years as a lifespan)

(Other modern day popular uses of the term are much looser -- grouping those born within a particular span that is not of set length, nor set by the sort of natural intervals discussed below, but more subjectively by what seem to be 'natural groupings', according to changes in society, "booms" and "busts" in births, etc. All this probably started with the "baby boom generation". That one is generally dated at about 18 years; other more recent "generations" may be briefer.

In fact, nowadays it may be used so loosely -- and so much affected by rapid changes in society-- that we may speak of a "generation" as little more than a decade!)

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Most of us conventionally think of a generation as about 20-25 years. That's probably based on the idea of how old someone is when they have their FIRST child.

But that way of calculating is a bit off. For one thing, it ignores the fact the men and women do not necessarily wed and bear children at the same ages (i.e., the women do so at YOUNGER ages). Another thing to consider is that it may be better to measure not the SHORTEST length between generations --that is, from the time a person is born till they have their first child, but to consider ALL the children they have, and go for the MIDDLE of their child-bearing years (the mean)

And, of course, marriage and child-bearing ages vary not only by gender, but from one society to another. (In Western countries, for example, the average ages for ALL of these have increased over the past century.)


Below is a link to an article that examines recent studies in the length of generations. The numbers they cite are:

First study -
male generations: 31-38 years
female generations:

Second study -
male: 35
female: 28.7
Third:
male: 31.93
female: 28.72

Based on this, some recommend using 30 years for the female line, 35 for the male line. (The writer of the article decide to use averages of 33.5 for the male line, 29 years for the female.)

http://www.ancestry.com/learn/library/article.aspx?article=11152

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As for "biblical generations" -- keep in mind that the numbers used are ROUND numbers, not just in the sense of being approximations but with some symbolic sense. The general round number used for a generation in Scripture is 40 years. This is viewed as the period it takes to completely switch over from one generation of people to the next (as we see, for example, in the story of Israel's wandering in the desert for 40 years until the WHOLE generation of those counted in the census at the start [= men of fighting age - 20 and up] had died out. In that light, it's not a bad number... though it doesn't tell us precisely how long the generations (as described above) actually lasted. Very likely the numbers were upper 20s to mid 30s, like those in the studies above.

One other key biblical number is 70 years. Sometimes folks say this represents a generation. More precisely it represents a LIFESPAN. It CAN be used for "generation", but then it is more about the WHOLE lifespan of a group of people born at the same time, NOT the interval between the peak of one generation and that of their immediate offspring.

(Actually, if you think of a man's reaching full maturity at age 30 [the age men became priests] , and being in the midst of child-bearing [or 'begetting'!] at that time, then add a "generation" of 40 years, it works out pretty well.)

Answer 2

Not sure how God defines a generation. Abraham was told 4 generations would pass while Israel was in slavery in Egypt and they were there for 400 years. That would make a generation a 100 years. As to the generation to die in the wilderness. Most scholars do not say that is a generation. It was the time God said they would wander during which the entire population over 12 at the time would die, with only two exceptions. Most scholars define a generation between 60 and and 80 years as far as the bible goes.....but since we do not know Gods timetable its only a guess.

Answer 3

A generation has historically been considered 20 years. It has only been in the last 100 or so years that the life expectancy has exceeded 40 to 50 years for most people.

Answer 4

Yes!
"The people in a family or group that were born, raised and educated at roughly the same time. But since people are not born in clumps, there is a gradation of generations in the general population, and generations are best thought of within families, though even then they may become disjointed when siblings birth dates become widely spaced. Generations generally advance at between three and four per century.....
bless

Answer 5

It seems to me that logically it should be the time it takes one generation to mature and start a new one- 18-25 yrs. But I have recently noticed that many people in the media etc tend to refer to it as roughly a decade.

Answer 6

a generation is generally thought of as 20 yrs.....in current time with technology the gap seems to be closing creating little
meta -generations


don't know what biblical generations may be....

Answer 7

According to my genetics professor, 33 years is one human generation.

Answer 8

I believe a generation is the people above us or under us

Answer 9

im confuses with that too.

there was the greatest generation, the 1960s flower generation, the baby boomers, x generation,

20 years maybe.

Answer 10

I'd say around 20-30 years.