baby boomer

An American person born during the "baby boom" following World War II, between the years of 1945 and 1965, during which the population of the United States increased by 40 percent. Typically used to describe members of this generation, who have been associated with economic prosperity, consumerism, self-indulgence. Primarily heard in US. Since baby boomers represent such a large percentage of the population, financial experts are concerned about the impact their retirement will have on the economy.

One of approximately 77 million persons born during the two decades following the end of World War II (1945). In 1951, a New York Post columnist Sylvia Porter is thought to have been the first to call the large postwar increase in births a “boom.” The return of veterans and the expansion of the economy with higher incomes are some of the factors accounting for the increase. Healthier and wealthier than previous generations, the baby boomers to some extent rejected traditional values and embraced social and cultural change. Their identity as a group was indicated by Time magazine’s choice of the Baby Boom Generation as its 1966 “Man of the Year.” Aging baby boomers, so characterized after they reached the age of 40, are still named by the cliché. A June 13, 2010, article by Patricia Cohen in the New York Times said, “Baby boomers have long been considered the generation that did not want to grow up, perpetual adolescents even as they become eligible for Social Security.”