Urban and rural millennials: Heterogeneity of the young adult generation

Abstract

A sociological approach towards the generational cohort analysis is developed. A special emphasis is made upon the youngest adult generation of millennials coming out of their adolescence in the 2000s. A broad range of social indicators is used for empirical exploration of intra-generational differences between urban and rural millennials. Data were collected from the annual Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS-HSE) in 2003—2016. Numerous significant differences have been revealed with regard to the educational level, family planning, use of modern gadgets and digital technologies, commitment to healthy lifestyles, and some values. Some practices are more widely spread among rural millennials, whereas other practices are more characteristic of urban millennials. Most of revealed differences are explained by the lower level of material well-being of rural millennials and lower quality of rural infrastructure.