The Archives

1948

new generation was emerging after record-low population increases in the 1930s and predictions of lower numbers to come. wrote, “Human nature, being just plain cussed, had simply disregarded all the carefully drawn population curves, and the United States was enjoying an unprecedented boom in babies.” From 1946 to 1964, 76 million children were born in the U.S. They became known as baby boomers, the generation that led the counterculture movement and helped vastly expand the economy. Now, U.S. population growth has dwindled back down to rates similar to that of the ’30s.