The Case For and Against Millennials as the Greatest Entrepreneurial Generation (Infographic) A look at the factors influencing the generation born between 1981 and 1997.

By Catherine Clifford

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

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Will millennials prove themselves the greatest entrepreneurial generation, or the lost entrepreneurial generation? That is the question.

The generation born between 1981 and 1997 has grown up on the Internet and had access to entrepreneurship courses in college like no generation before, according to entrepreneurship organization the Kauffman Foundation in its 2015 State of Entrepreneurship Study.

At the same time, they also have a dubious amount of student loan debt to pay off, and many millennials struggled to find a job right out of college. Work experience and money in the bank are huge benefits for starting a business.

Related: Millennial Misconceptions: How You're Totally Wrong About This Generation

Have a look at the infographic, embedded below, summarizing why millennials are ideally suited to jump start declining rates of entrepreneurship in the U.S. and what's holding them back.

Click to Enlarge

The Case For and Against Millennials as the Greatest Entrepreneurial Generation (Infographic)

Related: This Is How Millennials Want to Be Managed

Catherine Clifford

Senior Entrepreneurship Writer at CNBC

Catherine Clifford is senior entrepreneurship writer at CNBC. She was formerly a senior writer at Entrepreneur.com, the small business reporter at CNNMoney and an assistant in the New York bureau for CNN. Clifford attended Columbia University where she earned a bachelor's degree. She lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. You can follow her on Twitter at @CatClifford.

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