A Discussion On Baby Boom

Introduction

The phenomenon of baby boom tends to be ascribed to a particular geographical area. The baby boom is, therefore, a significant increase in the number of births in a particular region at a certain time. For example, the sudden rise of the number of births recorded in an area by approximately one million or over 50% compared to the normal birth rate experienced in the region (Greenwood & Jeremy p60) The individuals that are born during that period is referred to as the baby boomers. The cause of the baby boom is considered to be due to various fertility factors. The most important baby booms occurred in the twentieth century from the early 1940s and ended in 1960s. The occurrence of this baby boom was unexpected for most nations since that was the period in which most countries were undergoing economic improvements and the improvement of the population's living standards (Colby & Jennifer p10). The baby boom mainly happened in the nations that had undergone huge damage as a result of the civil wars. For example the united states, Poland, and Germany. The effects brought a bought by the civil wars made the countries affected to undergo major economic hardships. This study aims to discuss the baby boom in the United States.

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The Baby Boom in the United States

The United States baby boom occurred after the Second World War from the year 1944 to 1961 whereby more than sixty-five million children were born throughout the entire period (Colby & Jennifer p4). This was considered to be the largest childbirth rate ever recorded in the United States. During the peak of the baby boom, there was childbirth recorded after every seven seconds. In the united states, the peak of the boom happened in 1957 when approximately 4.3 million babies were born as compared to the year before the boom began in 1945 when approximately 2.86 million new babies were born(Rogerson & Daejong p22). The huge baby boom in the united states was brought about by the return of the war veterans after the end of the civil war in 1945(Colby & Jennifer p8). The baby boom was also supported by the firm post-war American economy that enabled the American Congress to pass the G.I bill of rights. The bill encouraged more home ownership and improved education standards amongst the American citizens through charging low or no interest on loans to the war veterans. The loans helped the war veterans to be able to settle, and in a comfortable, economic state allowed the American families to have a place to live, to start having babies, and to educate them. This support efforts by the American government to the war veterans lead to the occurrence of the baby boom since the American had the favorable conditions to help them rear their children

Factors Contributing to the Baby Boom

The occurrence of the baby boom was due to various factors that include. First, the young couples that started the new families after having put off the marriages during the world war. During the war, most of the families did not record any birth due to the great depression that happened; therefore, when the war ended the couples reunited and started having babies since they were sure that nation was now a safe place to start raising their families. On the other hand, after the war, their women started getting married at an earlier age than before. For example, the women started getting married at the age of 20 years instead of the expected age of 22 years.

Secondly. The popular culture that had developed in the United States that was considered to celebrate and embrace pregnancies, parenthood, and formation of large families. This culture acted as a motivation for the population to continue giving birth. A huge percentage of the population was adapting to the famous cultural changes, for instance opening up credit card accounts and purchasing the TV. However, despite the baby boom period being a blessing, it still had various challenges that were identified when the economists identified how many children were being born

Thirdly, through the continued government support for the growth of families for example through offering the families the help of the G.I benefits, which made it easy for the people to bring up their children (Rogerson & Daejong p25). The United States couples were also able to relocate to the suburbs where they could also raise their families instead of staying in the city. This was possible because life was cheaper and safe in the suburbs and the government had fully provided all the provisions necessary to support the rearing of children. Also, the cost of living in the suburbs was considered to be low mainly for the individuals returning from the military, and this is because the government offered them the support for their heroic actions in battle. On the other hand, during this baby boom period, the women were encouraged to take up their roles, which were to stay at home, as house helps, or mothers as the men went to work. This enables the families to easily bring up their children easily since there was an equal division of labor. For example, the mothers could easily offer constant care to their children while their husbands were out searching for capital to support the families.

The Challenges of the Baby Boom

Increased Dependency Ratio

The increased baby boom that the United States experienced during the Second World War led to the country experiencing an increase in the dependency ratio. This means that the country had a huge percentage of the population under the age of 15 years and others above the age of sixty-five years that were dependant on the few individuals who were still in the workforce blanket. Also, the dependency ratio is expected to increase once the baby boomers get to the age off sixty-five years, which is the period when most of them will be out of the workforce blanket. Most of the 75 million baby boomers born after the second world war are considered to have started reaching their retirement age in 2011(Rogerson & Daejong p31). According to research in the year 2000, the percentage of the population above sixty-five percent was at approximately 12.5%, the number is expected to rise to approximately 18% by 2020 due to the aging of the baby boomers (Colby & Jennifer p15). This means that the dependency ratio is expected to increase by a wide margin, therefore; the government will be needed to increase its budgets to finance some of the programs that support the old such as Medicaid.

Increased Demand for Resources

The economics of the country may be benefiting from the baby boom; however, the baby boom may lead to increase in demand of resources such as transportation, housing, food, and facilities such as hospitals. Therefore, if the country were not able to keep up with the growing population, the country would experience the scarcity of these resources that are important to the people. Without enough supply of the needed resources, the population is likely to suffer from poor health conditions, poverty, and even the death of the population. For example between the years 1970 to 1980, the housing prices increased drastically from the normal 13% to 32% due to the huge increase in population because of the aging of the baby boom (Rogerson & Daejong p20). This housing price boom generated calls for the government to provide or create affordable houses. Therefore, the government needs to put measures in place to ensure that these resources are available to help manage or serve the huge population. In other resources such as healthcare, the government is expected to allocate more resources to finance the construction of infrastructure and provision of improved health services.

References

Colby, Sandra L., and Jennifer M. Ortman. "The baby boom cohort in the United States: 2012 to 2060." Population estimates and projections (2014): 1-16.

Greenwood, Jeremy, Ananth Seshadri, and Guillaume Vandenbroucke. "The baby boom and baby bust." American Economic Review 95.1 (2005): 183-207.

Rogerson, Peter A., and Daejong Kim. "Population distribution and redistribution of the baby-boom cohort in the United States: Recent trends and implications." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 102.43 (2005): 15319-15324.