Millennials - The "Buy Now, Pay Later" Generation

According to the Statista Consumer Insights, U.S. Millennials stand out as the "buy now, pay later" generation, with 56 percent of those born between 1980 and 1994 saying they used online schemes that allow for the interest-free payment of goods and services in several installments. As seen in data by the Statista Brand Profiler, Paypal was the most used "buy now, pay later" service among the generation, followed by Afterpay, Klarna and Affirm.

In comparison, just 36 percent of Gen X (born between 1965 and 1979) and 49 percent of Gen Z (born after 1995) said they used such services. Participation was lowest among Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964) at just 26 percent.

While certain payment plans with standard timelines are usually free of interest when using BNPL, postponing payments can incur extra costs. Here, 14 percent of Millennials in the survey said this had happened to them in the past 12 months. This is compared to 11 percent of Gen Z, 8 percent of Gen X and 5 percent of Baby Boomers.