Baby boomers

• 1. Defining The Baby Boom

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  The term baby boom refers to a noticeable increase in the birth rate that followed World War II. Newspaper reporter Sylvia F. Porter described this population surge in a column published on the 4th of May 1951, in the New York Post. She noted an increase of 2,357,000 people in the United States between 1940 and 1950. The first recorded use of the phrase baby boomer appeared in a January 1963 Daily Press article by Leslie J. Nason. He wrote about a massive surge of college enrollments approaching as the oldest members of this generation came of age. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the modern meaning of the term to a the 23rd of January 1970, article in The Washington Post. Most organizations define the cohort as those born from 1946 to 1964. This range includes groups like the Pew Research Center, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Some scholars offer different boundaries. William Strauss and Neil Howe defined the generation in their 1991 book Generations as those born from 1943 to 1960. David Foot, author of Boom, Bust and Echo: Profiting from the Demographic Shift in the 21st Century (1997), defined a Canadian boomer as someone born from 1947 to 1966. In these years, more than 400,000 babies were born annually. French politician Michèle Delaunay placed the baby-boom generation in France between 1946 and 1973. She also noted that in Spain, the period ran from 1958 to 1975. Another French academic, Jean-François Sirinelli, denoted the span between 1945 and 1969. Bernard Salt places the Australian baby boom between 1946 and 1961. The Office for National Statistics described the UK as having two baby booms in the middle of the 20th century. One occurred immediately after World War II and another around the 1960s with a noticeably lower birth rate. In the United States, the generation can be segmented into two broadly defined cohorts. The leading-edge boomers are individuals born between 1946 and 1955. This group represents slightly more than half of the generation, or roughly 38,002,000 people. Roughly one in ten baby boomer men served in the military, and some were deployed to Vietnam. The other half, usually called Generation Jones, was born between 1956 and 1964. This second cohort includes about 37,818,000 people.

• 2. Global Economic Prosperity

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  After the Second World War, the United States offered massive financial assistance to Western European nations through the Marshall Plan. The Soviet Union did the same for Eastern Europe with the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance. Western Europe experienced considerable economic growth due to both the Marshall Plan and initiatives aimed at European integration. France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg created the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951. They formed the European Community in 1957, 58. Full employment was reached on both sides of the Atlantic by the 1960s. In Western Europe, the average unemployment figure stood at 1.5% at that time. The automobile became common in North America and then in Western Europe. Governments around the world undertook the construction or expansion of public transportation networks at a rate never before seen. Many items previously deemed luxurious entered mass production for the average consumer. The laundry machine, the dishwasher, the refrigerator, and the telephone were now available to most households. Technological advances such as plastics, television, magnetic tape, transistors, integrated circuits, and lasers played a key role in improving living standards. This period saw optimism, economic prosperity, and a growing middle class. By the 1970s, all industrialized capitalist nations had become welfare states. Six countries, Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, West Germany, and Italy, spent more than 60% of their national budgets on welfare. The Golden Age finally petered out in the 1970s. Automation started eating away jobs at the low to medium skill levels. Younger boomers known as Generation Jones entered the workplace en masse. In the United States, the onset of a recession typically occurred within a few years of a peak in the rate of change of the young-adult population. The recession of the mid-1970s took place shortly after older boomers' growth in the late 1960s. Western capitalist nations slid into recessions during the mid-1970s to early 1980s. Although collective GDP continued to grow until the early 1990s, unemployment exploded in many industrialized countries. Youth unemployment during the 1980s was over 20% in the United Kingdom. It exceeded 40% in Spain and reached around 46% in Norway. Members of the Silent Generation found themselves in an abundance of employment opportunities as they entered the workforce in the 1950s. They could expect to achieve parity with their fathers' wages at the entrance level. By the mid-1980s, younger boomers could only expect to make a third of what their fathers made as new entrants to the labor force.

• 3. Education And Elite Overproduction

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  In the 1980s, James R. Flynn examined psychometric data and discovered evidence that IQ scores of Americans were increasing significantly between the early 1930s and late 1970s. On average, younger cohorts scored higher than their elders. This discovery became known as the Flynn effect. The international movement to bring about reforms in mathematics education launched in the late 1950s with heavy French influence. A commission headed by André Lichnerowicz worked out details for desired reforms in France. The French government mandated that the same courses be taught to all schoolchildren regardless of career prospects. Euclidean geometry and calculus were de-emphasized in favor of set theory and abstract algebra. By the early 1970s, the Commission ran into problems. Mathematicians, physicists, economists, and industrial leaders criticized the reforms. One member asked Should we teach outdated mathematics to less intelligent children? Lichnerowicz resigned and the commission was disbanded in 1973. Before World War II, the share of university-educated people in even the most advanced nations except the United States was negligible. After the war, the number of university students skyrocketed. In Europe, between 1960 and 1980, the number of university students increased by a factor of four to five in West Germany, Ireland, and Greece. It grew by a factor of seven to nine in Spain and Norway. In West Germany, the number of university students steadily grew in the 1960s despite the construction of the Berlin Wall. By 1966, West Germany had a grand total of 400,000 students up from 290,000 in 1960. In the Republic of Korea, the number of university students as a share of the population grew from around 0.8% to 3% between 1975 and 1983. The total number of universities worldwide more than doubled in the 1970s. In 1950, there were 2.6 million students in American institutions of higher learning. By 1970, that number was 8.6 million, and by 1980, it became 12 million. About a quarter of Baby Boomers had at least a bachelor's degree. More women earned university degrees than ever before. Because so many Baby Boomers pursued higher education, costs started to rise. The Silent Generation was the last cohort to benefit from tuition-free public universities anywhere in the United States. Quantitative historian Peter Turchin noted intensifying competition among graduates whose numbers were larger than what the economy could absorb. He termed this phenomenon elite overproduction. It led to political polarization, social fragmentation, and even violence as many became disgruntled with dim prospects despite attaining high levels of education. When baby boomers entered the workforce they took up all jobs including those below their skill levels. Wages were depressed and many households needed two streams of income to pay bills.

• 4. Counterculture And Social Change

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  Journalist Tom Wolfe coined the phrase Me Decade to describe the 1960s. West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer acknowledged that the most important problem of our epoch was what many youths viewed as empty materialism and superficiality of modern life. In the Soviet Union, official youth periodical Komsomol'skaia pravda called for attention to the psychology of contemporary young people. By 1968, counterculture was considered a serious threat. The Central Intelligence Agency reported to the President that counterculture was a highly disruptive force not just in the nation but also abroad. Long-time director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation J. Edgar Hoover suspected students' protests were instigated by Communist agents. However, the CIA subsequently found no evidence of foreign subversion. Counterculture did come with an entire pharmacopeia including marijuana, amphetamines such as purple hearts, and magic mushrooms. Perhaps the most notorious substance was lysergic acid diethylamide or LSD. Synthesized in 1938 by chemist Albert Hoffmann, its use as a psychedelic drug was promoted in the 1960s by psychologist Timothy Leary. Attempts to ban it in 1966 made the substance even more popular. Cultural icons like poet Allen Ginsberg were known for using this drug. During the 1960s and 1970s, music industry made a fortune selling rock records to people between ages fourteen and twenty-five. Youthful stars included Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, and Janis Joplin. Blue jeans became a common sight across the Western world. In France, fashion industry discovered trousers could outsell skirts in the mid-1960s. A remarkable characteristic of youth culture from this period is its internationalism. English-language music was normally left untranslated. Musical styles from Caribbean, Latin America, and Africa proved popular. In Roman Catholic countries like Ireland and Italy, the 1960s and 1970s saw schism between Church and young on issues like divorce or abortion. In Canadian province Quebec, religious attendance plummeted in same period. The Woodstock Festival in August 1969 drew huge crowds despite bad weather and general lack of facilities. Actual figure is difficult to determine even with aerial photography. The so-called Hippie Trail probably started in mid-1950s as expeditions of wealthy tourists and students traveling in small groups. They started from United Kingdom heading eastwards. Many bus services sprang up to serve tourists. First hippies joined trail in late 1960s. Many young people were beguiled by Eastern religions and mysticism. Air travel was in infancy at this time and beyond reach of most. Traveling by long-distance bus and trains from Western Europe to Asia became affordable alternative.

• 5. Demographic Aging And Retirement

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  Statistics Canada reported in 2015 that for first time in Canadian history more people were aged 65 and over than people below age 15. One in six Canadians was above age 65 in July 2015. Projections suggest gap will increase in next 40 years. Economist David Foot told CBC policymakers ignored trend for decades. With massive baby-boom generation entering retirement economic growth will be slower and demand for social support will rise. This significantly alters Canadian economy. In the United States, Pew Research Center estimated 71.6 million boomers were present as of 2019. Age wave theory suggests economic slowdown when boomers started retiring during 2007, 2009. In 2018, though, 29% of people aged 65, 72 in United States remained active in labor force according to Pew Research Center. That trend follows from general expectation Americans work after age 65. Baby boomers who chose remain workforce after age 65 tended to be university graduates whites and residents big cities. Longer they postpone retirement more Social Security benefits claim once finally retire. Japan at present has one of oldest populations in world with persistently subreplacement fertility currently 1.4 per woman. Japan's population peaked in 2017. Forecasts suggest elderly make up 35% of Japan's population by 2040. As of 2018, Japan was already super-aged society with 27% people older than 65 years. According to government data total fertility rate was 1.43 in 2017. Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation University of Washington says Japan has median age 47 years in 2017. About half Taiwanese would be aged 50 or over by 2034. Taiwan set transition from aged to super-aged society where 21% population over 65 years age in eight years compared seven years Singapore eight South Korea eleven Japan fourteen United States twenty-nine France fifty-one United Kingdom. In 2015 woman living EU had on average 1.5 children down from 2.6 in 1960. Europe growth projected halt early 2020s due falling fertility rates aging population. In 2017 median age 53.1 years Monaco 45 Germany Italy 43 Greece Bulgaria Portugal making oldest countries world besides Japan Bermuda. They followed Austria Croatia Latvia Lithuania Slovenia Spain whose median age 43.