Population distribution and redistribution of the baby-boom cohort in the United States: recent trends and implications
Open accessAbstract
Over 70 million people were born into the baby-boom cohort between 1946 and 1964. Over 65 million of these individuals are presently alive, and thus the cohort continues to exert a powerful influence on regional population change in the United States. In this article, we examine the recent and current geographic distribution of the baby-boom cohort. In 1990, the members of the cohort comprised a particularly high proportion of the population in a small number of dynamic metropolitan areas. We also highlight the recent migration trends exhibited by this cohort; these trends are potentially important early indicators of the retirement-related migration patterns that the cohort might follow. The spatial redistribution of the cohort has many implications, including potentially significant consequences for intergenerational relationships and caregiving. Also highlighted in the article are the temporal and geographical implications for intergenerational caregiving. There has been much attention given to the "sandwich" generation, with its members having dual caregiving responsibilities to both parents and children. A more appropriate designation may be the "stretched" generation, because caregiving seems to extend over a long period. In particular, many members of the baby-boom cohort are beginning to care for their aging parents just as they finish child rearing.
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Baby boomers can expect to provide personal care and financial assistance for their families for about 40 years, first to children, then simultaneously to young adult children and ageing parents for about 5 years on average, with remaining caregiving time spent supporting parents, siblings, spouses or spouses' children, and themselves.
“boomers can expect to provide personal care and financial assistance for their families for ∼40 years, first to their children, then simultaneously to young adult children and ageing parents for about 5 years on average; the remaining caregiving time is spent providing support to their parents [4], as well as to older siblings, spouses or their spouses' children, and themselves [8].”
From Baby boomer caregiver and dementia caregiving: findings from the National Study of Caregiving (2015) · cites this paper as [4]
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- Authors
- Rogerson, P. A., & Kim, D.
- Affiliations
- University at Buffalo, State University of New York (US)
- ORCID
- Rogerson, Peter A.
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2005-10-17
- Volume
- 102
- Issue
- 43
- Pages
- 15319-15324
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC1266126
- OpenAlex
- W2172108737
- Cited by
- 69
- References
- 15
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 3.65
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Demography › Migration, Aging, and Tourism Studies
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving
- Social Sciences › Demography › Insurance, Mortality, Demography, Risk Management
- Keywords
- baby boom cohort, population redistribution, territorial distribution of population, retirement migration, intergenerational caregiving, sandwich generation, metropolitan areas, regional population change, elderly parents, United States
- MeSH terms
- Demography, Humans, Population Growth, United States
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