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This is a Special Feature of Baby Boomer HeadQuarters: WWW.BBHQ.COM a great site for Baby
Boomers
The United States experienced an "explosion" of births after American
soldiers returned home from World War II. The sociologists define those born
between (and including) 1946 and 1964 as "baby boomers." To be fair, some people
born on the fringes of this time period do not think of themselves as boomers.
When we think of the baby boomer generation, we often think of the 60s. That is
the decade that seems to have defined the boomers. Many of those born after 1960
have little memory of the greatest decade of the century.
So you may argue the fine points a bit, but
there is no doubt that there was indeed a population explosion in the years
after the war. The following chart shows the number of U.S. births from 1940 to
1994 in thousands. For example, in 1940, there were 2,559 thousand (or 2,559,000
- that's 2.6 million) births. This data comes from the U.S. Department of
Commerce, Bureau of the Census. These numbers refer to U.S. births only.
| 1940 |
2,559 |
1955 |
4,097 |
1970 |
3,731 |
1985 |
3,761 |
| 1941 |
2,703 |
1956 |
4,218 |
1971 |
3,556 |
1986 |
3,757 |
| 1942 |
2,989 |
1957 |
4,300 |
1972 |
3,258 |
1987 |
3,809 |
| 1943 |
3,104 |
1958 |
4,255 |
1973 |
3,137 |
1988 |
3,910 |
| 1944 |
2,939 |
1959 |
4,245 |
1974 |
3,160 |
1989 |
4,041 |
| 1945 |
2,858 |
1960 |
4,258 |
1975 |
3,144 |
1990 |
4,158 |
| 1946 |
3,411 |
1961 |
4,268 |
1976 |
3,168 |
1991 |
4,111 |
| 1947 |
3,817 |
1962 |
4,167 |
1977 |
3,327 |
1992 |
4,065 |
| 1948 |
3,637 |
1963 |
4,098 |
1978 |
3,333 |
1993 |
4,000 |
| 1949 |
3,649 |
1964 |
4,027 |
1979 |
3,494 |
1994 |
3,979 |
| 1950 |
3,632 |
1965 |
3,760 |
1980 |
3,612 |
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| 1951 |
3,823 |
1966 |
3,606 |
1981 |
3,629 |
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| 1952 |
3,913 |
1967 |
3,521 |
1982 |
3,681 |
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| 1953 |
3,965 |
1968 |
3,502 |
1983 |
3,639 |
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| 1954 |
4,078 |
1969 |
3,606 |
1984 |
3,669 |
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One can easily see a "boom" in 1946, when births went from 2.8 to 3.4
million. The end of the boom is not as clear, however. Perhaps that delineation
was marked when annual births dropped below 4 million (1964).
"Every 7 Seconds"
I believe it was Bill Geist who noted first (in 1997) in his book "The Big
5-Oh" that another boomer turns 50 every 7 seconds. Whew! Is that
possible? Well, you don't have to be a math major to check it out. Let's look at
50 years ago - 1955 - when 4,097,000 boomers were born. Now, I suppose that some
of them have not made it this far, so let's round it down to 4,000,000. (That's
just my estimate, but it is close enough for my purposes here.) So, 4,000,000
(or so) will turn 50 in 2005. Let's see how that breaks down:
| per year: |
4,000,000 |
| per day (4.0 mil / 365):
|
10,958 |
| per hour (10.6 k / 24): |
456 |
| per minute (456 / 60): |
7.1 |
And 7.1 per minute amounts to one every 8.5 seconds.
So, according to our statistics, Bill Geist is off by a bit. But, if you use
1957 as your base number, when 4,300,000 million boomers were born, he is
exactly right. So maybe he was just ahead of his time. Nonetheless, his point is
valid. That's a heck of a number!
Summary:
For the years 1940-1994, inclusive, 202 million Americans were born; about
77% of all Americans now living were born after 1939. During the baby boomer
years, 1946-1964 (inclusive), 75.8 million Americans were born. The ratio
of males to females has stayed relatively constant. There were approximately
1.05 male births for every one female birth.
The biggest year of the boom was 1957, when 4.3 million boomers were
born. Why it took over 10 years for so many post-World War II families to get
going is a matter of speculation. For the 5-year period between 1956 and 1960,
inclusive, 21.2 million boomers were born, nearly 1 1/2 times the number born
between 1941 and 1945, and the largest for any 5-year period in the 20th
century.
Boomers today represent 28% of the U.S. population. But in 1964, they
represented about 40% of the population. In other words, in 1964 more than a
third of the population was less than 19 years old! No wonder the baby boomers
attracted so much attention.
Using the years 1946 through 1964 as
boundaries, boomers are now (in 2005) between 41 and 59 years old.
As of 1996, when the boomers were between 32 and 50, the Census Bureau
reported the age of Americans as follows. Again, the number for each age group
is in thousands.
| 21-25 |
18,197 |
36-40 |
22,001 |
51-55 |
13,052 |
66-70 |
9,045 |
| 26-30 |
19,339 |
41-45 |
19,617 |
56-60 |
10,884 |
71-75 |
8,460 |
| 31-35 |
22,251 |
46-50 |
16,598 |
61-65 |
10,003 |
76-80 |
6,246 |
We are amused when visitors write to us ask what effect the boomers are
having on the economy. Folks, in 2005, the economy IS the boomers!
We represent the vast majority of the work force. There are 76 million of us; we
ARE the economy. (That is not bragging; that is just a statistical
reality.) The huge growth in the economy in the 90s was due in no small part to
76 million of us working up to our peak earning and spending years. What are we
spending our money on? Other than Metallica CDs and movies aimed at 15
year-olds, whatever is being sold... we are buying it. (And, in fact, we are
paying for most of those Metallica CDs and movie tickets, as well.) What kind of
cars are we buying? What kind are Detroit and Japan selling? We
ARE the upper end of the automobile market. What explains the
explosion in the popularity of SUVs? We do. Where do we go on vacation?
Everywhere. How do we get there? Every way possible.
Summary:
There were 76.1 million Americans between the ages of 32 and 50 in 1996. That
represents about 28% of the U.S population. At the lower end of this range, the
number of males is nearly the same as the number of females. But at age 50,
there are 1.05 females for every male.
You might think that the baby boom after WW II
would lead to another boom 25-30 years later. While there has been a slow
increase in the number of births since 1977, it is hardly a boom. The reason for
this is that many boomers waited longer to have children. Thus, the next "boom"
has been more spread out. Also, many boomers have not had children. So it
appears as though the baby boom phenomenon will be a one-time event.
In 1996, there were approximately 10 million Americans over the age of 80.
There also were 68 million under the age of 20. Doesn't this constitute another
boom? Not exactly. At the time, the "boom" of 78 million Americans born between
1946 and 1964 represented a much larger percentage of the entire population than
the 68 million under 20 do now. Nonetheless, in about a decade, 70 million
boomers will begin counting on those "kids" to pay our social security. But
that's another set of statistics for another time.
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