The official years of the Baby Boom Generation (1946 through 1964) saw a marked increase in the number of births in the world. Here’s how the birth rate rose and fell during the baby boom years in America:
1940 - 2,559,000 births per year
1946 - 3,311,000 births per year
1955 - 4,097,000 births per year
1957 - 4,300,000 births per year
1964 - 4,027,000 births per year
1974 - 3,160,000 births per year
There have even been books made about the baby boom:
Here are some recent statistics of some countries showing their population in numbers and their pyramid.
Population Pyramid Summary for United Kingdom:
Here is the demographic transition model for the UK:
Here is Britain through the ages (% of population in each age group)
All this is not good for the country though as society ages, there may come a time when:
- There are not enough young people to finance care of the old
- The old may have used up all their financial resources (NB: People will depend on pension schemes for longer than anticipated when they were set up).
A major concern is that population ageing will drive up “unsustainable” healthcare costs. So far, the main factor that drives healthcare expenditure is not the percentage of older inhabitants per se, but includes:
- Technological developments
- Rising patient expectations
- Society’s (and the nation’s) changing commitment to healthcare
- Healthcare delivery systems
- Costs and profits, and differences in availability and use of healthcare payment schemes and insurances.
These in turn are driven by factors, which may be affected by population aging:
- The state of the economy
- Private and public resource allocation
- Delivery and use of health services
- The viability of pension systems
- Family life (family members who might care for the oldest olds may be in need of care themselves, often being old olds themselves)
- Medical research agendas
“A major concern is that population ageing will drive up “unsustainable” healthcare costs. Although the percentage of older inhabitants may not drive up healthcare expenditure per se at the moment, it is nevertheless true that the major health expenditure is on those who are older.”
Selected nations ranked by percentage of the population aged 65 and over, compared with the percentage of the gross national product spent on healthcare.
(Butler, RN. Population aging and health. Brit Med J 1997; 315: 1082-1084)
The European Union (EU) has even warned that retirement ages in Europe may have to rise if public finances are to cope with pensions provision and that tougher budget policies may be needed, this is all due to the aging population. It warns that pensions expenditure for rapidly aging populations could lead to an increase in pensions expenditure of 3-5% of gross domestic product (GDP) in most member countries. It also says countries could also see an average 3 percent increase in health care expenditure to cater for the aging population.