In 2026, the oldest baby boomers, who were once in the forefront of the American youth movement that transformed American politics and culture, will age 80.
America is getting older overall because of the generation that protested the Vietnam War, welcomed the TV age, danced at Woodstock, dressed up the first Barbie dolls, and twirled the first plastic hula hoops. This generation also didn't trust anyone older than thirty.
Actor Henry Winkler, baseball Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson, singers Cher and Dolly Parton, and former presidents Donald Trump, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton are among the boomers who will become octogenarians in 2026.
Adam Whitmore
"Baby boomers have always been in the spotlight, regardless of their age," said William Frey, a demographer at Brookings. "They were a large generation, but they also accomplished significant things."
According to Frey, all baby boomers will be 65 and older by the end of this decade, and the number of persons 80 and older will double in 20 years.
While children under the age of 18 are expected to decrease from nearly 21% to a predicted 18.4%, the proportion of elderly persons in the U.S. population is expected to increase from 18.7% in 2025 to nearly 23% by 2050.
In five years, the U.S. population will begin to decline if no immigration occurs. The Congressional Budget Office's estimates, which were updated in September to take into consideration the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, predict that at that point, deaths will outnumber births. Immigration and more births than deaths are the main causes of population growth.
Longer lifespans brought on by improved health care and decreased fertility rates are exacerbating America's aging population.
The CBO projects that the average life expectancy at birth in the United States will increase from 78.9 years in 2025 to 82.2 years in 2055. Additionally, the fertility rate has been steadily declining since the Great Recession in 2008, when it was 2.08, or about the 2.1 rate required for children to numerically replace their parents. In 2025, it reached 1.6.
Boomer milestones are missed by younger generations.
Because they are better educated, delaying marriage to concentrate on their jobs, and delaying having their first kid until later in life, women are having fewer children. Fewer children are also a result of rising child-rearing costs, inaccessible child care, and unaffordable housing.
According to Kenneth Johnson, a senior demographer at the University of New Hampshire, this has resulted in 11.8 million fewer births than what may have happened if the fertility rate had remained at Great Recession levels.
"I had children while I was young. "That's what we did," said West, who has two daughters, a stepdaughter, and six grandchildren. "We graduated from college, got married, and had babies." "It's very different because my kids got married in their 30s."
According to a recent Census Bureau research, young persons in the United States in the twenty-first century have not grown up like baby boomers did. Nearly half of those between the ages of 25 and 34 had left their parents' house, found employment, gotten married, and had children by 1975. Less than 25% of American adults had reached these milestones by the early 2020s.West, whose grandson is 21 years old, knows why: They don't have the opportunities her generation did. According to Paul Quirk, her grandson, it all boils down to unstable finances.
According to Quirk, "they were able to buy a lot of things, a lot cheaper."West continued, "The economy is frustrating all of her grandchildren.""To afford a place, you have to get three roommates," she stated. "We had a job waiting for us after we graduated from college. Additionally, master's degree holders will now work at fast food restaurants while they search for legitimate employment.
Subscribe
