Who are the ‘baby boomers’?

From the U.S. Census Bureau

The term “baby boomer” refers to individuals born in the United States between mid-1946 and mid-1964 (Hogan, Perez, and Bell, 2008). Distinctions between the baby boom cohort and birth cohorts from preceding and subsequent years become apparent when fertility measures are framed within a historical context. The baby boom in the United States was marked by a substantial rise in birth rates post-World War II. Two features of the baby boom differentiate this increase from those previously experienced: the size of the birth cohort and the length of time for which these higher levels of fertility were sustained.

The cohort born during the post-World War II baby boom in the United States, referred to as the baby boomers, has been driving change in the age structure of the U.S. population since their birth. This cohort is projected to continue to influence characteristics of the nation in the years to come. The baby boomers began turning 65 in 2011 and are now driving growth at the older ages of the population. By 2029, when all of the baby boomers will be 65 years and over, more than 20 percent of the total U.S. population will be over the age of 65. Although the number of baby boomers will decline through mortality, this shift toward an increasingly older population is expected to endure. By 2056, the population 65 years and over is projected to become larger than the population under 18 years.
This report is based on the 2012 National Projections. Between 2012 and 2060, the U.S. population is projected to grow from 314 million in 2012 to 420 million in 2060, an increase of 34 percent. The nation will also become more racially and ethnically diverse, with the aggregate minority population projected to become the majority in 2043. The population is also expected to become much older. By 2030, more than 20 percent of U.S. residents are projected to be aged 65 and over, compared with 13 percent in 2010 and 9.8 percent in 1970.
Birth rates in the United States declined steadily in the decades leading up to World War II. A notable deviation in this trend was a short-term increase in fertility after World War I. In 1909, there were 30 births per 1,000 population but by 1933, these rates had fallen to 18.4. For the next seven years, as the United States experienced the Great Depression, fertility rates hovered between 18 and 19. As a response to economic improvements and U.S. participation in World War II, fertility rates began to fluctuate in the early 1940s, increasing to just under 23 in 1943 and then falling to just over 20 in 1945. In the first year of the baby boom, 1946, rates increased to 24 births per 1,000 population, and in 1947 they peaked at 26.5. As previously noted, the increase in fertility following a major war was not without precedent. In 1920, following World War I, birth rates also increased. However, in that instance rates declined back to their pre-boom levels within two years. During the post-World War II baby boom, the United States experienced 18 years of elevated fertility rates, with rates remaining above the pre-boom levels until 1964.
Although the fertility rates observed during the baby boom were not the highest ever seen in the United States, the number of births during those years was unprecedented. The National Center for Health Statistics recorded 2.9 million births in 1945, which increased by almost 20 percent to 3.4 million births in 1946 (NCHS 2005). Births continued to increase through the rest of the 1940s and into the 1950s, reaching a peak of 4.3 million in 1957. By 1965, the baby boom had ended, and births fell below the 4 million mark—a level not exceeded again until 1989, when baby boomers were having children of their own. In the 35 years prior to the baby boom, the number of annual births had crossed the 3-million mark twice, in 1921 and 1943. Since the baby boom, annual birth cohorts have consistently remained above 3 million.