Boomer Facts

(Thanks to Coop for the suggestion)

- Our numbers (those born between 1946 and 1964) are estimated at 76.4 million, and that represents 27 percent of the U.S. population. (Source: MetLife).

- Subtract deaths and add immigrants and our current population is estimated at 78.2 million (The Boomer Century).

- Nearly 8,000 Americans turn 60 every day (The Boomer Century).

- According to the 2000 U.S. Census, more than half of all baby boomers live in the following nine states (in order of size): California, Texas, New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan and New Jersey.

- Only about one in seven of us expects to begin collecting Social Security at age 62 (The Boomer Century).

- About one-third of all Boomer households have at least $100,000 in investable assets, but about four in 10 Boomers have less than $10,000 in retirement savings (The Boomer Century).

- Can't we just get along? Baby boomers have a higher divorce rate than prior generations: 14.2 percent of boomers are divorced (U.S. Census Bureau).

- Nearly 17 percent of us belong to minority groups: 12 percent are black, four percent are Asian or Pacific Islander, less than one percent are American Indian and Alaskan Native. People of Hispanic origin (who may be of any race) comprise
9.8 percent of the baby boomers (MetLife).

- Baby boomers have a higher level of education than any generation before them. Nearly 89 percent completed high school and 28.5 percent have a bachelor’s or higher college degree (MetLife).

- We're not responsible for Geraldo Rivera. He was born on July 4, 1943, three years before the beginning of the Baby Boom.

- We're also not responsible for Anna Nicole Smith. She was born on Nov. 28, 1967, three years after the end of the Baby Boom. (Sorry, but the Commissioner of Major League Blogging has ruled that every blog must mention, at least once, Anna Nicole Smith, and now we've done it twice in the same post. Any broadcast or re-transmission of this post without the express written consent of the Commissioner of Major League Blogging is....highly unlikely.)

- Fifty-five percent of America's elected national and state officials are Baby Boomers - including 74 percent of the 50 state governors(Scripps Howard).