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The baby boom was astronomical in its size and duration. It produced 80 million babies within a 20 year time. The birth rate and raw number of births doubled between the mid 1930s and the late 1950s. 1957 produced more births than any other year in American history and we had almost half the population.
Another interesting thing was after WWII ended, the general trend was for Americans to get married and start families at younger ages than they had in the past. The percentage of Americans who remained childless and unmarried dropped to record lows. The teenage marriage and birth rate skyrocketed. The teen birth rate peaked at 96.3 in 1957, meaning that nearly one out of every ten teenage girl then was pregnant. 50% of all women were married by 20. Men married around 22 verses 26 in 1890. One out of every four women in their early 20s in 1960 had given birth, a higher rate than any other time in history. Furthermore, there was also a general trend towards larger families in the post war era. More and more families were having four, five, and even six children and fewer having just one or two.
Then as we entered the 1960s, and the Baby Boomers came of age, the birth rate dropped just as fast as they rose. By the 1970s the patterns seen before the 1950s of smaller families and later parenthood and marriage came rushing back but stronger than ever. The trend continues unabated to this day. The Baby boomers have had a massive effect on American society and will continue to do so for many decades.
Was the baby boom of the post war years a reaction to the depression and WWII? A catching up? Did the hardships and changing world cause Americans to crave family and home more so than in the past?
Do you think another baby boom could happen again? I don't think it could, just because of birth control and we live in a different world. Hypothetically speaking, if we had a repeat of the last baby boom, then there would be close to 10 million births within 20 years.
Last edited by floridarebel; 07-26-2016 at 10:07 AM..
- coming to adulthood of large immigrant population
- drastic improvements in medicine
- family viewed as a positive for success (no welfare)
- wide opportunities in American business and development
- no birth control, no abortion
The conclusion most people who study the baby boom come to is quite quotidian. Older couples that had delayed having children due to the depression and war started having children. They were joined by young couples who were eager to start families. A quick look at US birthrates from 1920 through 1970 will allow you to see the decline (begins around 1930), rebound (begins around 1950) and then return to "normal" pre-depression levels (about 1970).
- coming to adulthood of large immigrant population
- drastic improvements in medicine
- family viewed as a positive for success (no welfare)
- wide opportunities in American business and development
- no birth control, no abortion
The immigration rate had really started to fall-off during the depression, there weren't many "large immigrant groups coming into adulthood".
The improvements in medicine began to lengthen life span, which contributed to overall population growth (less people dying), but not much to birth rates.
I can't think of a time (despite your implication) that family was not viewed as a positive.
Economic opportunities were abundant, but contrary to your "no welfare" shtick...a big part of that economic boom was fueled by the GI Bill which would pretty much be considered "welfare". With that though, I digress. The economic boom certainly helped fuel the baby boom and it's no coincidence that they were hand in hand.
The last part is again, a political statement, not a historical one. Various forms of birth control were available though "the pill" would not become available until 1960. Abortions were ALWAYS available in the US whether legal or illegal. If anything, the advances in medicine you mentioned made abortions even safer than they had been beginning in the 1940's. You may not want to admit it, but people in the 1940's, 1950's, etc. and looonggg before that got abortions.
The immigration rate had really started to fall-off during the depression, there weren't many "large immigrant groups coming into adulthood".
The children of immigrants getting married and having children,
and some immigrants also, but mostly 2nd gen.
Concerning birth control and abortion, I only stated generally-accepted truths,
which someone of your level should be aware of. Why should I spend time
posting charts about birth control, family planning, abortion, and then
the divorce rate, illegitimate birth rate, feminism, all that stuff, it's general
knowledge when they began changing the societal landscape, and that's
after the baby boom.
The children of immigrants getting married and having children,
and some immigrants also, but mostly 2nd gen.
Concerning birth control and abortion, I only stated generally-accepted truths,
which someone of your level should be aware of. Why should I spend time
posting charts about birth control, family planning, abortion, and then
the divorce rate, illegitimate birth rate, feminism, all that stuff, it's general
knowledge when they began changing the societal landscape, and that's
after the baby boom.
My argument would be that you are attributing a causality to declining birth rates that is more coincidence. The elevated birth rate during the baby boom was a rebound from the lower birth rates in the preceding decades of the depression and war. The decline post-boom was a return to normalcy, not the result of the other factors that you are attributing to it.
I'd like to see a comparison of birthrates after other conflicts. I have an opinion the GI Bill, and perhaps some changes in tax laws may have contributed largely to the desire to propagate.
The pill was responsible for leveling off teenage pregnancies by the mid sixties, compared to the fifties.
Part of the baby boom was that after a depression which really never resolved (layoffs were frequent right up to 1941), and then a war, (15 years of relative abstinence) people just did what they normally did when there was no imminent economic hard times ahead; breed.
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