"One thing you can say about this generation is they are likely to be very highly educated," Chris Mason, the assistant director of census output at the Australian Bureau of Statistics, said.

"Within their lifetime they could see the leaving age for school being raised and we already know so many jobs require some sort of postgraduate qualification."

The bureau organised everyone who took part in the 2006 census into 20-year groupings, including baby boomers and generations X and Y. The predecessors of the baby boomers - or those people born between 1926 and 1946 - were called "lucky" and anyone born before 1926 was simply "oldest".

The bureau's researchers came up with the lucky tag because people in that group believed their lives were easier and better than those of their parents. However, their parents' experiences in the Great Depression made them stoic and hard-working.

With each successive generation, the number of people with qualifications beyond high school grew, as did the number of people living in cities. However, they were increasingly unlikely to be religious.

The number of people with postgraduate education and of women in paid employment started to jump with the baby boomers and kept increasing in generations X and Y.

The increase in dual-income families has had implications for baby boomers and members of the lucky generation who now find themselves having to put their retirement plans on hold so they can look after their grandchildren.

"Twenty-three per cent of women in their 60s and 12 per cent of men are looking after children who are not their own," Ms Mason said.

Some included regular care arrangements "and we know from previous work that most families like to use a mixture of formal, paid care and informal care. People at that stage of life were looking forward to relaxing and yet they are now spending more time and money on caring for their grandchildren."

There are now also more people in their 60s working part-time. Ms Mason said this was a combination of people wanting to ease into retirement and needing to continue working because of the cost of caring for grandchildren.

There are also 24,000 children who live permanently with grandparents because their parents have died or are not able to care for them. GENERATION X AND GENERATION Y (20 TO 39)

Most highly educated generation

■ Together they equal the numbers of baby boomers

■ 28 per cent of women and 21 per cent of men have a bachelor's degree or above

■ 16 per cent live at home with their parents, 49 per cent with spouse or partner, 7 per cent alone, 7 per cent in group households

Elizabeth Coad, 36, publicist, Elizabeth Bay

"We were probably the first generation to have HECS … I certainly don't think our generation is hard done by though." LUCKY (60 TO 79)

Enjoyed the postwar boom and full employment

■ Nearly twice as many men as women worked

■ 36 per cent born overseas

John McInerney, 69,

councillor, Redfern

"Yep, we are the lucky generation because we grew up in a time of rising employment opportunities and with the stability of more family-orientated communities." BABY BOOMERS (40 TO 59)

Second largest generation - 28 per cent of the population

■ Highest rate of divorce - 19 per cent

■ Good economic times but affected by downturn in late 1980s, early 1990s

■ Growth of the two-income household

■ Start of high rates of female employment and higher education

Thomas Fitzgerald, 53,

Melbourne, composer

"Baby boomers had this concept that it was a golden era that would go on forever in this country. The Whitlam era, the social glory, the bold dreams." OLDEST (AGED 80+)

Lived through the Great Depression

■ 39 per cent left school at year 8 or below

■ 33 per cent live alone

■ 82 per cent are religious

Doreen McRae, 85, Northbridge

"You had to leave school when you were 14 and very few could afford to send their children to college." IGENERATION (0 TO 19)

Never known a time without the internet - 80 per cent have it at home

■ 77 per cent live at home with their parents

■ 29 per cent studying and working