how many remain 
the youngest members of the greatest generation if using 1925 as the last year they were born would be nearing their 100s in 2024 around 90 000 centenarians were living in the united states in 2021 according to the united nations 2as for wwii veterans in 2023 there were only about 119 550 left out of the 16 1 million who served in world war ii 3 and around 130 greatest generation veterans were thought to be lost every day to old age as of 2023 4 according to research by the washington post the final member of the greatest generation should die around the year 2046 if they can reach age 120 given advances in health care and improvements in life expectancy 5characteristics of the greatest generationwhile every individual is unique demographers and sociologists have identified some common characteristics that often vary from generation to generation among the greatest generation individuals tend to have the following characteristics many of these are thought to stem from living through world war i and the great depression as children and then fighting in or living through world war ii after that the greatest generation and other demographicsgenerally speaking the greatest generation are the parents of the baby boomers and are the children of the lost generation those who grew up during or came of age during world war i they preceded what is known as the silent generation a cohort born between the mid 1920s to the early to mid 1940s the grandchildren of the greatest generation are members of generation x generation y and their great grandchildren tend to be millennials and gen z members of the greatest generation currently fall into the retirees demographic and are currently collecting social security benefits the differences between generations have been extensively studied and socio economic models have been created to help plan for future government expenditures and programs to plan for changes in current demographics 