The importance of the baby boom is significant because every hour 1 person is turning 65 and in around 2015 or 2020 there will be 70 million baby boomers as compared to about 40 million today (2011)

As all of these people get older, they are all trying to retire. All of them will be looking toward Social Security to begin receiving the benefits they've been working toward. Also, as they retire the job market will be emptying making room for the next generation.

Growing families increased the demand for products.

From about 1946 to 1963, when the contraceptive pill reduced the birthrate sharply.

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Once the war was over millions of men returned to the U.S. (and also Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada) who had been overseas for as much as 4 years.

Over the next 5 years these millions of men married millions of women and created millions of babies. The number of babies was much greater than in years prior to the war. It is said that without the economic prosperity and GI Bill of the postwar years the boom would not have been as large as it was. The prosperity, and GI Bill in addition to the confidence these young men had (after defeating the enemy) created a fertile ground for the creation of many families.

The baby boom was also very marked in other Allied countries, too - for example, in Britain.

The baby boom was the result of the end of World War II. Returning soldiers and sailors got married, and started to produce families. This produced a "bulge" in the population curve of most countries which was named "The Baby Boom". The children of post World War II families created challenges to certain government agencies, such as education, health, and social services.

These children are defined as those born between the years of 1946 to 1952. Some sociologists place the latter date as 1956, a ten year spread. As a Boomer, I remember attending school with class sizes of 36 to 40 children as a normal class size. While we put a strain on the school system, the children of the boom were the most literate and well trained generation as evidenced by the SAT scores of 1967...the highest scores ever made by a "class".

Technically, a baby boom is a statistical variation "bulge" in the prediction of population growth. The "Baby Boomers" were the first statistical proof of this bulge.

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The 'propserity factor' is also very important. The birthrate remained high till the contraceptive pill became widely available in the early 1960s.

In some countries, the baby boom started a little later. For example, in Germany it began around 1950.

First, lets understand what the "Baby Boom" really was, shall we? With so many Canadians men out of the country in the armed forces, the birth rate fell in Canada. When the war ended, in 1945, men started to be allowed to come back to Canada, and after being away for as much as 5 or 6 years, they got married, or returned to their wives. The result was a huge increase in births. In the 10 years from 1946 to 1956, the population increased by 20 percent, in Canada. Those new kids demanded new furniture, new clothes and more food be produced, along with new houses, and new cars and lots of other services like schools and playgrounds, and swimming pools and hockey rinks. Lost of new teachers, and medical nurses, and Doctors were also needed, to look after all those kids. The baby boom was just what Canada needed to get the economy switched over from making Bren Machine Guns to making baby carriages, and bunk beds, and new cars, especially station wagons, for all those twins and triplets that arrived every year. Men who had learned technical trades in the military were starting their own businesses, as pumbers, carpenters and electricians, and mechanics and welders. Building the new suburbs required lots of skilled workers, and lots of lumber, concrete, and shingles, and pipe and wire, and new fridges and stoves, and furnaces, all made by Canadians in our own factories. Boom times were upon us, full force. Boomers changed the face of Canada, and the economy as well.

During the Great Depression, the birthrate went down drastically b/c people could not afford to have babies. When WW2 began, it ended the depression and an economic boom began. As an effect, the birthrate shot up because people were prospering and could once again afford to have and take care of babies.

The baby boom did not actually begin before the end of WW II. In the western world,

the birth rate was in decline during the Great Depression and it remained quite low until the single men/women of the armed forces returned to civilian life and took spouses. The " Baby Boom " is generally regarded as the period from late 1946 to the early 60's -- a time of economic recovery that moved into unparalleled prosperity by the mid- '50s. That period coincided with the prime fertility years of those returning war veterans.

Man began to have increased health problems. APEX

men began to have increased health problems~apex

There are millions of Baby Boomers coming up hot and heavy. There are pros and cons ...

PROS:

Baby Boomers want things right and aren't too old to fight for it which could be excellent in the areas of health care, politics, and taking a good solid stand on important issues of the country they are in.

Baby Boomers are either going to retire and travel, stay around home, have ill health perhaps, or many well go back to work part-time or full-time. Although I'm not classed as a Baby Boomer I found that I'd rather work part-time than stay home constantly and it helps financially.

Baby Boomers may even have more free time to volunteer in places that need help, or, they may even go back to College or night school. Some may even go into their own business'. They have much to offer.

CONS:

Baby Boomers are going to be a drain on our Health Care including the U.S. and Canada. Our Health Care system (in Canada at least) is already having problems and former governments knew full-well that they should have been saving money in their coffers for the burst bubble of the Baby Boomers. Of course former governments didn't do this (at least in Canada) and now they're scrambling for money to provide for the sick. Hospitals are over-crowded, there are not enough hospitals and it doesn't look like the government is going to be building any new hospitals in the near future.

When Baby Boomers retire many companies have not given it a thought that they will have to retrain future employees and have really messed up the process. It would have been smart to train young people along with the up and coming Baby Boomers so the company could carry on without too much of a problem. Some Baby Boomers may be called back to work for the company they use to work for as they need pros to help out.

Many Baby Boomers are taking early retirement because they want to be well enough to travel, perhaps start their own small business or just enjoy life sooner than later. Once one gets old the illness' start to pile up.

Higher insurance costs because they are living longer.

Higher unemployment among generations x and y, due to "retired" Baby Boomers taking up jobs in a limited job market.

Baby Boomers are beginning to take early retirement. They want to be young enough to enjoy life before they succumb to diseases. Some will travel, perhaps start a business of their own or simply enjoy their family, gardening, fishing, or doing whatever they feel like doing. This means it will put a drain on companies for experienced employees because there are so many Baby Boomers retiring. In Canada they are going to ask some of the early retired Baby Boomers to come back to work (even part-time) to help train younger employees. Good idea, because well over 50% of especially men can't handle total retirement and miss the comeradery of their fellow workers.

Baby Boomers are going to put a large drain on an already miserable existence of health care in the U.S. and Canada. Both governments knew about this problem of Baby Boomers and never did a thing about it. There is absolutely no reason there shouldn't be enough money in the coffers of both governments to give good quality health care to everyone, but, it's not there and I doubt our governments really care. This will lead to more and more "pay as you go" clinics in Canada (following very closely to the way U.S. health care is.)

It will also affect how many more doctors, nurses, etc., will be needed. In Canada they are only pumping out 200 doctors each year when they really need 400. There won't be enough nursing homes to accommodate the aging Baby Boomers and so our Canadian Government has turned around and tried to make the families care for their loved ones at home which is sometimes impossible with both people have to work and most families can't afford private care for their aging parents.

There was a baby boom in the U.S.

The Baby Boom occurred after WW1 as soon as the soldiers came home from the war.

16 years

The causes of the baby boom was that the baby boom was a monster that can destroy a big city

The baby boom was a product of the ending of WW2. Being around mostly men for a long time, when the men came back from war, well, they were ready for some love making. Also, there were no men for the women since they were all at war so when they came back, both sexes were eager and willing. Love making makes babies.

Prior to the Baby Boom, there was a period of approximately 20 years in which having children would have been difficult due to the Great Depression and World War II. The Baby Boom reflected the sudden removal of economic and social pressures that kept people from starting families.[3] While austerity and restraint were the norms during the stress of the war years, after the war, couples reunited and returned to traditional roles. Returning (mostly male) soldiers re-entered the workforce; many women left wartime work to concentrate on child-bearing and child-rearing. Marriage became again a cultural and career norm for most women - and one result was babies. The boom continued in the economic glow of the fifties, but dampened its rate as the recession of 1958 sloughed into the following recovery. One theory about the end of the baby boom is that it petered out as the biological capacity of boomer parents took its course. The key biological factor is female fertility. Women are fertile only into their mid-forties. Simple mathematics governs that a woman married in her mid-to-late twenties after the war ended in 1945 would remain fertile for another 20 years or so. The advent of the birth control pill in 1960 in the U.S. also contributed to the slowing birth rate, as earlier contraceptive methods were less popular or reliable.

A baby boom is any period marked by a greatly increased Birth Rate

The baby boom generation affected demand for certain goods by leading to a higher demand for baby clothes, baby food, and books on baby care.

- You're WelCUM

The return of soldiers from WW2

According to historical U.S. CENSUS data: 1) The U.S. population grew by 19,028,086 people between 1940 and 1950 and another 27,766,875 for a total increase of 46,794,961. This of course is total population increase and not births. However, upon further review the Baby Boom actually seems to be a change in the population growth trend rather than an isolated growth spurt/population increase: 1) The U.S. population grew an average of 1.2 million people per year between 1900 (75,994,575 people) and 1930 (122,775,046 people). 2) After the war ended, the U.S. population grew an average of 2.5 million people per year from 1940 (131,669,275 people) to 2000 (282,193,480) The Baby Boom was in fact a doubling of the average U.S. yearly population increase.

The baby boom began after the men returned from the war. The span of the baby boom was 1945 to 1964. The Korean war fed into the baby boom too. (I am one of those!).

Teachers were fired as enrollment dropped

The baby was played by the twins Kristina and Michelle Kennedy.

The baby boomers started the year the war ended and the soldiers came home.

andyyroxx's answer: After World War II, the benefits of the revolutions (agricultural (meaning the animal breeding, increased food production), industrial (when goods were manufactured in factories), and science (medicines were created, advances in technology)) had spread. The developed countries fought diseases and lowered infant mortality rate in developing countries, therefore sharply decreasing the death rates. But, birth rates still remained high, and hadn't dropped until about 20 years later, until families realized what was happening.