USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -In the two decades following World War II the United States experienced a mas-sive baby boom. The total fertility rate2 increased from 2.3 in 1940 to a maximum of 3.8 in 1957 (see Figure 1).

Detailed explanation-2: -Overview. Following World War II, the United States experienced a greatly elevated birth rate, adding on average 4.24 million new babies to the population every year between 1946 and 1964.

Detailed explanation-3: -The hardships and uncertainties of the Great Depression and World War II led many couples to delay marriage and many married couples to delay having children. The war’s end, followed by a sustained period of economic prosperity (the 1950s and early 1960s), was accompanied by a surge in population.

Detailed explanation-4: -There were actually a total of 76 million births in the United States from 1946 to 1964, the 19 years usually called the “baby boom.” Of the 76 million baby boomers born, nearly 11 million had died by 2012, leaving some 65.2 million survivors.

Detailed explanation-5: -New births continued to grow throughout the 1940s and 1950s, leading to a peak in the late 1950s with 4.3 million births in 1957 and 1961. (There was a dip to 4.2 million births in 1958) By the mid-sixties, the birth rate began to slowly fall.