After World War II, the population of the United States grew rapidly as a result of the baby boom and new drugs that increased life expectancy.
Between 1940 and 1950, the population of the United States increased by 19 million, double the number in the decade before. Then in the period between 1950 and 1960 it increased by almost 29 million, before increasing another 24 million between 1960 and 1970. The largest percentage increase came in the 1950s, when population rose by an extraordinary 19 percent. In the period from 1940 to 1970, as the aggregate population rose from approximately 132 million to 203 million, the overall percentage rise was 54 percent.
The birthrate played an important part in the population rise. Young people in the 1930s had delayed marriage because of the Great Depression. When World War II ended and servicemen returned, many of them rushed to the altar and had children in record numbers, giving rise to the phenomenon that would be known as the baby boom. The birthrate of more than 25 births per 1,000 was far higher than the Great Depression rate of 19 births per 1,000. In 1957, the peak of the baby boom, 4.3 million babies were born. The rise in the number of children had a dramatic impact on the nation’s booming economy.
Even though the birthrate was the main cause for the rise in population, the falling death rate was also a leading factor. The development of MIRACLE DRUGS meant that people were living longer, free from many diseases that plagued the lives of both young and old. The new drugs included antibiotics, penicillin, and streptomycin, which helped cure bacterial infections. A decade after the war, a polio vaccine was introduced, virtually eliminating the dreaded disease. These new drugs invented during World War II helped raise the average life expectancy. In the 1950s, the average lifespan for whites was 70 years, and for blacks it was 64 years, far higher than the 1920 average of 55 for whites and 45 for blacks.
Immigration also had an impact on the increase in population. After World War II, immigration totals passed the 100,000 mark for the first time since 1930. Many GIs coming home from Europe brought back brides. There was also an increase in Eastern Europeans immigrating to the United States to escape Soviet controlled homelands. Throughout the 1960s, record numbers of immigrants from Latin America and Cuba entered the United States, fleeing the dictatorial power of communist leader Fidel Castro. Many immigrants from Mexico arrived illegally, crossing the Rio Grande in unguarded areas whereas others came by legal means. By the mid-1970s, an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants had entered the United States from Mexico. The Immigration Act of 1965 increased the number of immigrants allowed into the United States by eliminating national quotas. This measure opened the way for an increase in the number of Vietnamese and Asians who came to the United States in the aftermath of the Vietnam War.
Further reading: Ira S. Steinberg, The New Lost Generation: The Population Boom and Public Policy (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1981); U. S. Bureau of the Census 19401970.
—Robert A. Deahl
World History
