Editing Baby boomers (section)

== Demographics ==
=== Asia ===
{{Hatnote|See also: [[Aging of China]], [[Aging of Japan|of Japan]], and [[Aging of South Korea|of South Korea]]}}<gallery mode="packed" heights="209" caption="Population pyramids of China, Japan, and South Korea in 2018">
File:China population pyramid (2018).jpg
File:Japan population pyramid (2018).jpg
File:South Korea population pyramid (2018).jpg
</gallery> During the time of the [[Great Leap Forward]], the [[Chinese Communist Party]] (CCP) encouraged couples to have as many children as possible because it believed a growing labor force was needed for national development along socialist lines.<ref name="Nectar-2021" /> China's baby-boom cohort is the largest in the world. According to journalist and photographer Howard French, who spent many years in China, many Chinese neighborhoods were, by the mid-2010s, disproportionately filled with the elderly, to whom the Chinese themselves referred as a "lost generation", who grew up during the Cultural Revolution, when higher education was discouraged and large numbers of people were sent to the countryside for political reasons. As China's baby boomers retire in the late-2010s and onward, the people replacing in the workforce will be a much smaller cohort due to the one-child policy. Consequently, China's central government faces a stark economic trade-off between "cane and butter"—how much to spend on social welfare programs such as state pensions to support the elderly and how much to spend in the military to achieve the nation's geopolitical objectives.<ref name="Woodruff-2016" />

According to the [[National Development Council (Taiwan)|National Development Council of Taiwan]], the nation's population could start shrinking by 2022 and the number of people of working age could fall 10% by 2027. About half of Taiwanese would be aged 50 or over by 2034.<ref name="Hsu-2018">{{Cite news|last=Hsu|first=Crystal|date=August 31, 2018|title=Population decline might start sooner than forecast|work=Taipei Times|url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2018/08/31/2003699509|url-status=live|access-date=January 1, 2020|archive-date=January 1, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200101022704/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2018/08/31/2003699509}}</ref> At the current rate, Taiwan is set to transition from an aged to super-aged society, where 21% of the population is over 65 years of age, in eight years, compared to seven years for Singapore, eight years for South Korea, 11 years for Japan, 14 for the United States, 29 for France, and 51 for the United Kingdom.<ref name="Liao-2018">{{Cite news|last=Liao|first=George|date=April 10, 2018|title=MOI: Taiwan officially becomes an aged society with people over 65 years old breaking the 14% mark|work=Taiwan News|department=Society|url=https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3402395|url-status=live|access-date=January 1, 2020|archive-date=January 1, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200101213604/https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3402395}}</ref>

Japan at present has one of the oldest populations in the world and persistently subreplacement fertility, currently 1.4 per woman. Japan's population peaked in 2017. Forecasts suggest that the elderly will make up 35% of Japan's population by 2040.<ref name="BBC News-2020">{{Cite news|date=July 16, 2020|title=Seven countries with big (and small) population problems|work=BBC News|department=World|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-53424726|url-status=live|access-date=August 24, 2020|archive-date=August 1, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801050016/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-53424726}}</ref> As of 2018, Japan was already a super-aged society,<ref name="Steger-2018">{{Cite news|last=Steger|first=Isabella|date=August 31, 2018|title=Taiwan's population could start shrinking in four years|work=Quartz|url=https://qz.com/1375403/taiwans-population-could-start-shrinking-by-2022/|url-status=live|access-date=January 1, 2020|archive-date=January 1, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200101213549/https://qz.com/1375403/taiwans-population-could-start-shrinking-by-2022/}}</ref> with 27% of its people being older than 65 years.<ref name="Duarte-2018">{{Cite news|last=Duarte|first=Fernando|date=April 8, 2018|title=Why the world now has more grandparents than grandchildren|work=BBC News|department=Generation Project|url=https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20190405-why-the-world-now-has-more-grandparents-than-grandchildren|url-status=live|access-date=January 1, 2020|archive-date=December 22, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222123013/https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20190405-why-the-world-now-has-more-grandparents-than-grandchildren}}</ref> According to government data, Japan's total fertility rate was 1.43 in 2017.<ref name="Japan Times-2019">{{Cite news|date=May 10, 2019|title=Japan enacts legislation making preschool education free in effort to boost low fertility rate|work=Japan Times|department=National|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/05/10/national/japan-enacts-legislation-making-preschool-education-free-effort-boost-low-fertility-rate/|url-status=dead|access-date=January 1, 2010|archive-date=May 10, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190510102655/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/05/10/national/japan-enacts-legislation-making-preschool-education-free-effort-boost-low-fertility-rate/}}</ref> According to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, Japan has one of the oldest populations in the world, with a median age of 47 years in 2017.<ref name="Desjardins-2019">{{Cite web|last=Desjardins|first=Jeff|date=April 18, 2019|title=Median Age of the Population in Every Country|url=https://www.visualcapitalist.com/median-age-of-the-population-in-every-country/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200722234817/https://www.visualcapitalist.com/median-age-of-the-population-in-every-country/|archive-date=July 22, 2020|website=Visual Capitalist}}</ref>

A baby boom occurred in the aftermath of the Korean War, and the government subsequently encouraged people to have no more than two children per couple. Although South Korean fertility remained above replacement well in to the 1970s,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Haub |first1=Carl |title=Did South Korea's Population Policy Work Too Well? |url=https://www.prb.org/resources/did-south-koreas-population-policy-work-too-well/ |website=PRB}}</ref> its fertility has since been declining due to declining economic prospects for young people, and women's liberation. In recent times, the South Korean government has since made many efforts to increase the national fertility rate through subsidies; however, these efforts have failed, and South Korea retains one of the world's lowest fertility rates, with a [[total fertility rate]] of less than 1 child per woman.<ref name="Haas-2018">{{Cite news|last=Haas|first=Benjamin|date=September 3, 2018|title=South Korea's fertility rate set to hit record low of 0.96|work=The Guardian|department=South Korea|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/03/south-koreas-fertility-rate-set-to-hit-record-low|url-status=live|access-date=February 8, 2020|archive-date=April 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200425184629/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/03/south-koreas-fertility-rate-set-to-hit-record-low}}</ref>

===Europe===
{{See also|Aging of Europe}}
<gallery mode="packed" heights="300">
File:Europe population over 65 in 2018.svg|European countries by proportions of people aged 65 and over in 2018
File:Population pyramid of the European Union 2016.png|Population pyramid of the European Union in 2016
</gallery>From about 1750 to 1950, Western Europe transitioned from having both high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates. By the late 1960s or 1970s, the average woman had fewer than two children, and although demographers at first expected a "correction", such a rebound never came. Despite a bump in the total fertility rates of some European countries in the very late 20th century (the 1980s and 1990s), especially France and Scandinavia, they never returned to replacement level; the bump was largely due to older women realizing their dreams of motherhood. Member states of the [[European Economic Community]] saw a steady increase in not just divorce and out-of-wedlock births between 1960 and 1985 but also falling fertility rates. In 1981, a survey of countries across the industrialized world found that while more than half of people aged 65 and over thought that women needed children to be fulfilled, only 35% of those between the ages of 15 and 24 (younger baby boomers and older generation Xers) agreed. Falling fertility was due to urbanization and decreased infant mortality rates, which diminished the benefits and increased the costs of raising children. In other words,  investing more in fewer children became more economically sensible, as economist [[Gary Becker]] argued. (This is the first demographic transition.) By the 1960s, people began moving from traditional and communal values towards more expressive and individualistic outlooks due to access to and aspiration of higher education, and to the spread of lifestyle values once practiced only by a tiny minority of cultural elites. (This is the [[Demographic transition#Second demographic transition|second demographic transition]].)<ref name="Kaufmann-2013">{{Cite book|last=Kaufmann|first=Eric|title=Whither the Child? Causes and Consequences of Low Fertility|publisher=Paradigm Publishers|year=2013|isbn=978-1-61205-093-5|editor-last=Kaufmann|editor-first=Eric|location=Boulder, Colorado, United States|pages=135–56|chapter=Chapter 7: Sacralization by Stealth? The Religious Consequences of Low Fertility in Europe|editor-last2=Wilcox|editor-first2=W. Bradford}}</ref>

At the start of the 21st century, Europe has an [[Population ageing|aging population]]. This problem is especially acute in Eastern Europe, whereas in Western Europe, it is alleviated by international immigration.<ref name="Kaufmann-2010">{{Cite journal|last=Kaufmann|first=Eric|author-link=Eric Kaufmann|date=Winter 2010|title=Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth?|journal=Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review|volume=99|issue=396, the future of religion|pages=387–94|jstor=27896504}}</ref> Researches by  demographers and political scientists [[Eric Kaufmann]], [[Roger Eatwell]], and [[Matthew Goodwin]] suggest that such immigration-induced ethnodemographic change is one of the key reasons behind public backlash in the form of [[Right-wing populism|national populism]] across the rich liberal democracies, an example of which is the [[2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum]] (Brexit).<ref name="The Economist-2018">{{Cite news|date=November 3, 2018|title=Two new books explain the Brexit revolt|newspaper=The Economist|department=Britain|url=https://www.economist.com/britain/2018/11/03/two-new-books-explain-the-brexit-revolt|access-date=December 21, 2019|archive-date=February 16, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200216201709/https://www.economist.com/britain/2018/11/03/two-new-books-explain-the-brexit-revolt|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2018, 19.70% of the population of the European Union (EU)  were 65 or older.<ref name="Duarte-2018"/> The median age was 43 in 2019, and was about 29 in the 1950s. Europe had significant population growth in the late 20th century. However, Europe's growth is projected to halt by the early 2020s due to falling fertility rates and an aging population. In 2015, a woman living in the EU had on average 1.5 children, down from 2.6 in 1960. Although the EU continues to experience a net influx of immigrants, this is not enough to balance out the low fertility rates.<ref name="Barry-2019">{{Cite news|last=Barry|first=Sinead|date=June 19, 2019|title=Fertility rate drop will see EU population shrink 13% by year 2100; active graphic|work=Euronews|department=World|url=https://www.euronews.com/2019/06/18/watch-changes-in-eu-populations-over-the-past-70-years|url-status=live|access-date=January 20, 2020|archive-date=May 5, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200505042631/https://www.euronews.com/2019/06/18/watch-changes-in-eu-populations-over-the-past-70-years}}</ref> In 2017, the median age was 53.1 years in Monaco, 45 in Germany and Italy, and 43 in Greece, Bulgaria, and Portugal, making them some of the oldest countries in the world besides Japan and Bermuda. They are followed by Austria, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, and Spain, whose median age was 43.<ref name="Desjardins-2019"/>

===North America===
{{See also|Aging of Canada|Aging of the United States}}<gallery mode="packed" heights="220" caption="Population pyramids of Canada and the United States">
File:Canada population pyramid (2018).jpg
File:US population pyramid (2018).jpg
</gallery>By the mid-2010s, sub-replacement fertility and growing life expectancy meant that Canada had an aging population.<ref name="Fraser-2015">{{Cite news|last=Fraser|first=Lara|date=September 30, 2015|title=Models of aging: How Japan, Denmark, Germany are riding out their senior wave|work=CBC News|department=Canada|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/models-of-aging-how-japan-denmark-germany-are-riding-out-their-senior-wave-1.3249123|url-status=live|access-date=August 24, 2020|archive-date=November 20, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191120103244/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/models-of-aging-how-japan-denmark-germany-are-riding-out-their-senior-wave-1.3249123}}</ref> Statistics Canada reported in 2015 that for the first time in Canadian history,  more people were aged 65 and over than people below the age of 15. One in six Canadians was above the age of 65 in July 2015.<ref>{{Cite news|date=September 29, 2015|title=More Canadians are 65 and over than under age 15, StatsCan says|work=CBC News|department=Business|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/statistics-canada-seniors-1.3248295|url-status=live|access-date=August 24, 2020|archive-date=August 12, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200812062043/https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/statistics-canada-seniors-1.3248295}}</ref> Projections by Statistics Canada suggest this gap will only increase in the next 40 years. Economist and demographer David Foot from the University of Toronto told CBC that policymakers have ignored this trend for decades. With the massive baby-boom generation entering retirement, economic growth will be slower and demand for social support will rise. This will significantly alter the Canadian economy. Nevertheless, Canada remained the second-youngest G7 nation, as of 2015.<ref name="Fraser-2015" />
[[File:US living adult generations.png|center|thumb|708px|U.S. adult demographic cohorts in 2019]]
Historically, the early Anglo-Protestant settlers in the 17th century were the most successful group, culturally, militarily, economically, and politically, and they maintained their dominance until the early 20th century. Commitment to the ideals of the Enlightenment meant that they sought to assimilate newcomers from outside of the [[British Isles]], but few were interested in adopting a pan-European identity for the nation, much less turning it into a global melting pot, but in the early 1900s, liberal progressives and modernists began promoting more inclusive ideals for what the national identity of the United States should be. While the more traditionalist segments of society continued to maintain their Anglo-Protestant ethnocultural traditions, universalism and cosmopolitanism started gaining favor among the elites. These ideals became institutionalized after the Second World War, and ethnic minorities started moving towards institutional parity with the once-dominant Anglo-Protestants.<ref name="Varzally-2005">{{Cite journal|last=Varzally|first=Allison|date=2005|title=Book Review: The Rise and Fall of Anglo-America|url=https://www.sneps.net/research-interests/the-rise-and-fall-of-anglo-america-the-decline-of-dominant-ethnicity-in-the-united-states/the-rise-and-fall-of-anglo-america-review|journal=The Journal of American History|volume=92|issue=2|pages=680–681|doi=10.2307/3659399|jstor=3659399|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804010152/https://www.sneps.net/research-interests/the-rise-and-fall-of-anglo-america-the-decline-of-dominant-ethnicity-in-the-united-states/the-rise-and-fall-of-anglo-america-review|access-date=August 2, 2020|archive-date=August 4, 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965]] (also known as the Hart–Celler Act), passed at the urging of President Lyndon B. Johnson, abolished national quotas for immigrants, and replaced it with a system that admits a fixed number of persons per year based in qualities such as skills and the need for refuge. Immigration subsequently surged from elsewhere in North America (especially Canada and Mexico), Asia, Central America, and the West Indies.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Garraty|first=John A.|title=The American Nation: A History of the United States|publisher=Harper Collins Publishers|year=1991|isbn=978-0-06-042312-4|pages=857–8|chapter=Chapter XXXI: The Best of Times, The Worst of Times}}</ref> By the mid-1980s, most immigrants originated from Asia and Latin America. Some were refugees from Vietnam, Cuba, Haiti, and other parts of the Americas, while others came illegally by crossing the long and largely undefended U.S.-Mexican border. Although Congress offered amnesty to "undocumented immigrants" who had been in the country for a long time and attempted to penalize employers who recruited them, their influx continued. At the same time, the postwar baby boom and subsequently falling fertility rate seemed to jeopardize America's Social Security system as the baby boomers retire in the early 21st century.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Garraty|first=John A|title=The American Nation: A History of the United States|publisher=Harper Collins|year=1991|isbn=978-0-06-042312-4|pages=932–3|chapter=Chapter XXXIII: Our Times}}</ref>

Using their own definition of baby boomers as people born between 1946 and 1964 and U.S. census data, the Pew Research Center estimated  71.6 million boomers were in the United States as of 2019.<ref name="2020Overtake">{{Cite web|last=Fry|first=Richard|date=April 28, 2020|title=Millennials overtake Baby Boomers as America's largest generation|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/28/millennials-overtake-baby-boomers-as-americas-largest-generation/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200428233813/https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/28/millennials-overtake-baby-boomers-as-americas-largest-generation/|archive-date=April 28, 2020|access-date=April 28, 2020|website=Pew Research Center}}</ref> The age wave theory suggests an [[economic slowdown]] when the boomers started retiring during 2007–2009.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy-boomers-idUSN3131412220080131|title=Economy faces bigger bust without Boomers|first=Emily|last=Kaiser|website=Reuters|date=January 31, 2008|access-date=December 31, 2022|archive-date=December 31, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221231025902/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy-boomers-idUSN3131412220080131|language=en|url-status=live}}</ref>  In 2018, though, 29% of people aged 65–72 in the United States remained active in the labor force, according to the Pew Research Center. This trend follows from the general expectation of Americans to work after the age of 65. The baby boomers who chose to remain in the work force after the age of 65 tended to be university graduates, whites, and residents of the big cities. That the boomers maintained a relatively high labor participation rate made economic sense because the longer they postpone retirement, the more Social Security benefits they could claim, once they finally retire.<ref name="Fry-2019" />