If there is one thing we like to do in our culture these days it's give things names. You probably know what a Baby Boomer is don't you? How about a Gen-Xer? Well the new term that you're going to be hearing a lot more of in the future is Millennials. All three of those particular monikers are used to denote a demographic segment of our population.

The Baby Boom generation denotes the segment of the population that was conceived and born after World War II. Let's say those people have a birth year that's between 1945 and 1960. In other words the older segment of today's population.  Generation X is the segment of the population that was born between 1960 and 1980. A Millennial is a person who would be considered a young adult today. They are the 90's kids.

Why is this news? Well with each generation there comes a shift in attitude and values. Some would say for the better some for the worst. According to demographer Greg Rigamer this shift in demographics will result in a very different Louisiana in the coming years.

We are a global economy now, and as a result communication, travel and movement is significantly greater than it ever has been in history.

Rigamer's comments were reported by the Louisiana Radio Network.

Louisiana residents have typically stayed close to home even through adulthood. According to Rigamer's  projections and the numbers from the United States Census that home bound attitude is slowly changing.

Think of all the people you know that are in their 50's. Most of them grew up in the state and decided to stay here to raise a family. That desire to stay here at home to live and work is slowing changing as we become a more global society.

The shift in younger demographics also means political change. As this younger generation moves into a position of power to choose the laws and lawmakers that govern our state there is no doubt we can expect a quite different look to Louisiana ten or fifteen years from now than what we see today.

I think it's all for the best. Change is difficult but it is necessary for a society and a state to grow. Those of us who are closer to the end than we are to the beginning need to realize we had our turn. It's time to share our experience and step aside to allow the next generation of Louisiana to have their day in the sun. That doesn't mean we won't be screaming from the porch, Hey kid, get off my lawn!

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