[Mpls] "Urban Legends"

[Jeanne Massey]

Jeanne Massey wrote:

"By the 2020s, baby boomleters (kids of baby boomers) will be having kids
And likely buying homes in big numbers (though not as big as in their
parents' generation), filling in some (but not likely all) those homes built
for their parents' generation."

Dottie Titus responds:
Not quite accurate.  Baby boomers began life in 1946.  That generation runs
through 1964 (assuming a generation is 18 years).  Our kids have already had
their kids, for the most part.  Here's a chart:

Generation      		Born            Age 18            Age 40
Baby Boomers  		 1946-1963     1964-1981      1986-2003
Baby Boomleters	 	1964-1981     1982-1999      2004-2021
Next generation         1982-1999      2000-2017      2022-2039

So the baby boomleters are more likely finished having children by 2020 and
their children, in many cases, will also be about done having children.

Me again:

The baby boomlet was extended and actually peaked in 1990 (not 81), meaning
that the next generation of births will likely continue well into the 2020s.


Dottie is correct that there was peak of baby boomlet births in the early
80s. Births then declined and fluctuated through the mid 80s and rose again
in the late 80s, peaking in 1990. See the trend in Minnesota:
See http://server.admin.state.mn.us/pdf/popn81.pdf

Nationwide: "The baby boomlet peaked in 1990, when 4.2 million babies were
born - just 110,000 fewer than the baby boom's peak in 1961."
http://www.mrp.txstate.edu/mrp/relations/news/news61_usatoday.html

A substantial number of births (though lower) still occurred in the early
90s due a mix of tail-end baby boomers and Generation Xers both having
babies. http://www.tomorrowtoday.biz/generations/xpaper2020.html

Back to Minnesota, the post baby boomlet lull in births was offset a bit by
rising births among immigrant families starting in the late 90s.

According to a state report
http://www.demography.state.mn.us/resource.html?Id=2390
"Minnesota is seeing a new baby boomlet"
Date Published: May 4, 2002

"Immigration and higher birth rates among women over age 30 contributed to a
rising number of births in the late 1990s, according to a new report from
Minnesota Planning. The number of births recorded in 2000 was 67,452, the
highest number since 1990.

Births to immigrant mothers in Minnesota more than doubled, from 3,644 in
1995 to 9,223 in 2000. Almost 14 percent of new births in 2000 occurred to
women born outside the United States. Mexico, Laos and Somalia were the most
frequent countries of origin."


Jeanne Massey
Kingfield