page_title: Demographic history of the United States
section_title: Post-war baby boom
hierarchical_section_title: Demographic history of the United States / Recent demographic trends / Post-war baby boom
caption_attribution_description: English: The number of births per thousand people in the United States. The blue segment is defined as the Baby Boomer by the United States government.
context_section_description: In the years after WWII, the United States, as well as a number of other industrialized countries, experienced an unexpected sudden birth rate jump. During WWII birthrates had been low, as millions of men had been away fighting in WWII and this had deterred women from starting families: women also had to take the place of men in the workplace, while simultaneously fulfilling their household duties. The millions of men coming back to the US after WWII, and the couples eager to start families, led to a sharp rise in the US birth rate, and a surge in new housing construction in the suburbs and outlying areas of the cities. Since the men who came back got jobs in the workplace again, married women stayed home to take care of the house and children and let their husbands be the breadwinner of the household.
  During the baby boom years, between 1946 and 1964, the birth rate doubled for third children and tripled for fourth children.
  The number of children aged 0–4 increased to 16,410,000 in 1950 from 11,000,000 in 1940, it continued into the 1960s where it peaked at 20,000,000 children under the age of 5.
  The number of children under 19 rose to 69 million in 1960 from 51 million in 1950, a 35.3% increase, while the proportion of the population rose to 38.8% up from 33.8% in 1950.
  The total fertility rate of the United States jumped from 2.49 in 1945 to 2.94 in 1946, a rise of 0.45 children therefore beginning the baby boom. It continued to rise throughout the 1940s to reach 3.10 in 1950 with a peak of 3.77 in 1957. Declining slowly thereafter to 3.65 in 1960 and finally a steep from decline after 1964, therefore ending the baby boom.
caption: United States birth rate (births per 1000 population).[23] The United States Census Bureau defines the demographic birth boom as between 1946 and 1964[24] (blue).
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