1. Canada’s Baby Boomers
Demography is the study of human populations using numbers, distributions, trends, and issues.

2. Baby Boomers
A baby boom is… A baby boom, by definition, is a sudden rise in the number of births observed from year to year. It ends when a sudden drop in the number of births is observed Booms tend to happen… when economics within a country are strong A baby boomer is – someone born within the designated boom.

3. Canada’s Baby Boom Overview
WHO? 8.2 million births
WHY? Improved economic conditions and a related trend over the same period toward larger families. 
WHERE? Europe & North America
WHEN? Post World War II
Most Canadian families had 3.7 children in the 1950s.
This meant that at this time, there was a large dependency load and a smaller working class.

4. Impacts of the baby boom include
Increased demand on the education system in the 1960 & 1970’s.
Increased health demands as they age, possibly taking away money from education.
Increased withdrawl of the Canadian Pension Plan
Labour shortage and increase competition for skilled labour
Decisions on community infrastructure – such as housing, transportation, outdoor spaces and building accessibility (ie door knobs are not longer sold in BC)

5. The baby boom came to an end because
General access to the Birth control pill
Women were waiting to have children as they were wanting to enter the work force first
People were marrying at a later age

6. What has happened to the dependency load between 1956 and 2004?
What is the significance of this change?
In 1956, there was a high percentage of children (0–14 years of age) because of the baby boom that occurred between 1946 and In 2004, this same group had become part of the bulge at 40–59 years old. In 2004, the percentage of children was considerably lower, while the percentage of older people (65 and older) had increased significantly.
The difference in the nature and size of the dependency load shifted Canadian society’s focus from providing services for children to providing services for a growing, older population, such as geriatric care, the provision of hearing aids, and increasing the number of golf courses.