The oldest baby boomers — once the forefront of an American youth that influenced culture and politics — will reach 80 in 2026.
The generation that spun the first plastic hula hoops and dressed the first Barbie dolls, embraced rock ‘n’ roll, protested the Vietnam War — the group that didn’t trust anyone over 30 — is now contributing to society.
Boomers becoming octogenarians in 2026 include actor [actor’s name] and baseball Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson, singers [singers’ names] and presidents [presidents’ names].
The aging and shrinking youth of America
America’s population increased by around 76 million births from 1946 to 1964, a rise amplified by couples reuniting after World War Two and enjoying postwar prosperity.
Boomers were more educated and wealthier than previous generations, and they helped develop a consumer-driven economy. In their youth, they pushed for social change through the Civil Rights Movement, the women’s rights movement and efforts to end the Vietnam War.
“We had rock ‘n’ roll. We were the first generation to take to the streets and demonstrate. We were the first socially conscious generation,” said Diane West, a metro Atlanta resident who will turn 80 in January. “Our parents followed the rules. We didn’t always follow the rules, and there were many of us.”
As they got older, they became known as the “me” generation, a derogatory term coined by writer Tom Wolfe to describe what some saw as their self-absorption and consumerism.
“The thing about baby boomers is that they’ve always been in the spotlight, no matter what age they were,” Brookings demographer William Frey said. “They were a large generation, but they also did important things.”
By the end of this decade, all baby boomers will be 65 and older, and the number of people 80 and over will double in 20 years, Frey said.
The share of senior citizens in the U.S. population will rise from 18.7% in 2025 to nearly 23% by 2050, while children under 18 will decline from almost 21% to a projected 18.4%.
, the U.S. population will start shrinking in five years. That’s when deaths will exceed births, according to projections from the [organization], which were revised in September to account for the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Population growth comes from immigration as well as births outpacing deaths.
The aging of America is being exacerbated by longer lives due to better healthcare and [factor].
The projected average U.S. life expectancy at birth will increase from 78.9 years in 2025 to 82.2 years in 2055, according to the CBO. And since the Great Recession in 2008, when the fertility rate was 2.08, around the 2.1 rate needed for children to numerically replace their parents, it has been steadily declining, reaching 1.6 in 2025.
Younger generations miss boomer milestones
Women are having fewer children because they are more educated, they’re delaying marriage to focus on careers and they’re having their first child at a later age. Unaffordable housing, poor access to childcare and the increasing costs of raising children also contribute to fewer kids.
University of New Hampshire senior demographer Kenneth Johnson estimates that the result has been 11.8 million fewer births compared to what might have been if the fertility rate had remained at Great Recession levels.
“I had kids when I was young. That’s what we did — we graduated from college, got married and had babies,” said West, who has two daughters, a stepdaughter and six grandchildren. “My kids got married in their 30s, so it’s very different.”
A recent [study] showed that 21st century young adults in the U.S. haven’t been achieving adulthood like baby boomers did. In 1975, almost half of 25-to-34-year-olds had moved out of their parents’ home, found jobs, gotten married and had kids. By the early 2020s, less than a quarter of U.S. adults had reached these milestones.
West, whose 21-year-old grandson lives with her, understands why: They lack the opportunities her generation had. Her grandson, Paul Quirk, said it boils down to financial instability.
“They could buy a lot of things much cheaper,” Quirk said.
All of her grandchildren are frustrated by the economy, West added.
“You have to get three roommates just to afford a place,” she said. “When we graduated from college, we had a job waiting for us.”
Implications for the economy
The aging of America could limit economic growth. With fewer workers paying taxes, Social Security and Medicare will be under more pressure. In 2025, about 34 seniors were supported by every 100 workers, but that ratio will grow to 50 seniors per 100 working-age people in about 30 years, according to [analysis] by the White House.
When West started her career in employee benefits and retirement planning in 1973, each 100 workers supported 20 or fewer retirees, by some calculations.
Vice President JD Vance and [company] CEO Elon Musk are among those [suggesting] Vance has proposed giving parents more voting power based on the number of their children, or following the example of Hungary’s Viktor Orbán in providing low-interest loans to married parents and tax exemptions to women who have four or more children.
Frey said programs that encourage U.S. women to have children rarely work, so funding should support pre-kindergarten and paid family leave.
“I think the best thing you can do for people who want to have kids is to make it easier and less expensive to have and raise them,” he said. “Those things may not increase the fertility rate as much as people would like, but at least the kids who are born will have a better chance of succeeding.”
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Emilie Megnien in Atlanta contributed to this report.