Baby Boomers Statistics: What are They?
So what are the statistics of the baby boomers generation?
Well first of all I want to define what a baby boomer is. The baby boomer years are considered to be people born between 1946 and 1964. This is the time between World War II and Vietnam.
The reason the name baby boomer generation was coined is that during this time there was an increase in the number of babies born by quite a bit. As such if you were born before 1964 and after 1946 you are a baby boomer.
I don’t think it’s a stretch for me to say that baby boomers have significantly changed the world we live in today. The baby boomers are the teens of the 60s, which as we all know, was a time of huge social change. Baby boomers statistics show that people of this age have contributed a great deal to politics, the economy, and business growth in general.
The primary cause of this generation is often a point of contention. However, it’s easy to understand that after the tragedies seen during World War II people desired to move back to core family values, which included having large families. In addition to that, the post-war factories and infrastructure of America created a situation where resources that were previously dedicated to war were repurposed toward peacetime. This made it so the United States economy grew at a very fast pace.
Not only did the economy grow but education became easier to obtain by those that desired college degrees and advanced college degrees. All this together made it so families were better off than their parents of the depression and they were able to afford larger families because they had the desire and resources to support these bigger families.
Baby boomer statistics show that there were almost 80 Million Americans born during what I call the baby boomers age. That number may not mean much to you but it is a true fact that this number is one of the largest birthrate numbers in the history of the United States. Today baby boomers represent 28% of the population of the United States. Here are some additional interesting statistics:
- The beginning of the Boomers turned 62 in 08
- A Boomer turns 60 approximately every 60 seconds
- By 2030 about 1/4 of the population will be over 65
- By 2040, it is expected that Social Security will need to be reduced by 37% if no changes are made between now and then
- 28% of Boomers say they will work as long as their health permits
Reference: whatsnextinyourlife.com
So now that we understand baby boomer trends are such that a significant part of our population will reach baby boomer retirement over a short period of time. The current concern is that the economic and workforce resources will not be able to take care of the vast requirements of the baby boomer generation. It’s difficult to tell what really will happen or how serious it will be.
Baby boomers are considered to be one of the more self-reliant groups of Americans. As such, most believe that the boomers will work well into what normally would be considered retirement. This of course will lead to a need for more baby boomer jobs. These jobs will either need to be created or taken from other demographics.
The baby boomers are just beginning to enter retirement and will so over the next 10 to 20 years. Most people understand that this time frame coming up will in and of itself require significant social change. The baby boomers are well-positioned to facilitate that change. They have the intelligence, the experience and the resources to help create the future as they have created the present.
Even though the baby boomer generation is entering retirement, because of the impressive advances in technology in the medical field, this generation is expected to live longer than previous generations. Not only that you take into account the self-reliant attitude of the typical boomer together with medical technology that creates a higher quality of life in older years and you have a generation of people that will continue to contribute to society well into the future. Baby boomer healthcare will be a model that will be reproduced for many years to come.
I hope this article has helped you understand some of the issues facing the baby boomer generation. From healthcare, to the need for jobs, to the need for continued advancements in medicine to keep people working longer into their elderly years to the increase in economic resources needed, all of these things together will affect all of us in one way or another.
Baby boomers statistics prove that this population is large compared to other generations and will have influence for many years.