 The "baby boom" was the result of soldiers
returning from World War II. Grateful that they were no longer
being shot at on a regular basis, the GIs gladly embraced
their wives and girlfriends with a vigor not seen before or
since. The babies were sort of a side effect.
If you figure that WWII ended around 1945, you could say
that the baby boom started in 1946 (nine months later). That
would make the oldest boomers 53 years old.
It turns out that the boom lasted for 19 years, marked by
76 million total births. There were over three million new
babies in the first year, and the annual rate quickly climbed
to over four million per year. In 1964, the rate fell below
that number and thus the boom was over. So the youngest
boomers currently would be 34 years old. |
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