A baby boom is any period of greatly increased birth rate during a certain period, and usually within certain geographical bounds and when the birth rate exceeds 2% of the population. Persons born during such a period are sometimes called baby boomers, but note the difference between a demographic boom in births and the cultural generations born during such a birth boom. Some contest the general conventional wisdom that baby booms signify good times and periods of general economic growth and stability.citation needed
The term baby boom most often refers to the dramatic post-World War II baby boom (notice the rate of change on the chart below). There are an estimated 78.2 million Americans who were born during this demographic boom in births.1 Many experts now believe that two distinct generations were born during this baby boom; the older generation is usually called the Baby Boom Generation and the younger generation is usually called Generation Jones23456 . However, the term remains a general demographic one and is also applicable to other similar population expansions.
