Mrs. Veletic
25 January 2010
A Defining Moment in Canadian History: The Baby Boom Generation
The Baby Boom generation, the largest demographic group in history (Kallen 28) was born from 1947 to 1966 in Canada after World War II, making up more than 30% of Canada’s current population. Born after the Great Depression of 1929 and World War II which occurred from 1939 to 1945, it is the largest post-war baby boom increase. A baby boom is any dramatic increase in the birth rate which usually occurs during a post-war period; the largest one being the baby boom of World War II. This birth rate increase was due to many factors such as; young soldiers returning home from World War II, marriages occurring at younger ages, lack of birth control, postwar economic boom that allowed couples to be able to raise children; contradictory to the Great Depression, when couples could not afford to raise children. When young couple reunited they had children during first few years of marriage (Kallen 45), Canadian women had an average of 3.3 children (Canadian Encyclopedia). The baby boom occurred and ended in slightly different years for countries in Europe, Asia, Australia and North America who also had post World War II baby boom, it occurred later for Canada because Canadian servicemen were repatriated later than American servicemen (Baby Boomer Life). Though the examination of the economical, social and technological changes brought on by the Baby Boom generation, it is apparent that this generation is a defining moment in Canadian history. Economically, the Baby Boom generation created financial prosperity as well as worries for the future retirement needs for this generation. Moreover, social changes included music and drug influence and rebellions. On top, technology greatly improved with the use of birth control pills and television sets along the computer revolution.
Foremost, the economical changes brought by the Baby Boom generation are the post war economic
Cited: “Aging Baby Boomer.” Wikinvest. 04 Dec. 2009. "Baby Boom." The Canadian Encyclopedia “Boom, Boom, Booming into Retirement.” Fifty-Five Plus. 09 Jan. 2010. “Boomers expect to work longer, can’t afford to quit.” USA Today Fielding, John and Rosemary Evans. Canada Our Century Our Story. Toronto: Nelson Learning, 2001. Gross, Michael "Hippies." Princeton University. 26 Dec. 2009. Kallen, Stuart A Stokebury, James. "World War II." World Book. 2004 ed. 2004. “The 1960s.” University of Minnesota Duluth. 28 Dec. 2009. “The Baby Boomers in Canada had different birth years than in the US.” Baby-Boomer-Life