Birth year · Silent Generation · 1928–1945
Born into a world of 2.27 billion people, in a year when about 2.5 million babies were born in the United States.
Someone born in 1939 is the Silent Generation, the generation born 1928–1945. Pew Research Center draws the same boundary. Someone born in 1939 turns 87 in 2026. About 2.5 million babies were born in the United States that year (National Center for Health Statistics, adjusted for under-registration). There is no UN estimate of worldwide births before 1950.
| World population | 2.27 billion |
| Babies born worldwide | n/a |
| Babies born in the United States | 2.5 million |
| Children per woman, worldwide | n/a |
| Life expectancy at birth, worldwide | n/a |
The UN's World Population Prospects, the source of the worldwide births, fertility and life-expectancy figures on the pages from 1950, starts in 1950, so those rows read n/a here rather than carry an estimate of ours. World population is Our World in Data's long-run series, which uses Gapminder's estimates for the years before 1950. US births are the National Center for Health Statistics series, which starts in 1909 and is adjusted for under-registration until 1958. Pages before 1950 list no events: we add history only where each item has been checked.
Age 18 — already passed
Age 21 — already passed
Age 30 — already passed
Age 40 — already passed
Age 50 — already passed
Age 60 — already passed
Age 65 — already passed
Age 70 — already passed
Age 80 — already passed
Age 90
Age 100
The cohort this year belongs to
Born between 1928 and 1945 — children of the Depression and the Second World War, named by TIME magazine in 1951 for their perceived caution.
Cohort boundaries are hard lines drawn through a continuous thing. A child born a day before or after one of them lands in a different generation with an identical childhood.
United States · Social Security Administration
The most common names given to babies born in the US in 1939 were Mary for girls and Robert for boys.
| Rank | Girls | Boys |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mary | Robert |
| 2 | Barbara | James |
| 3 | Patricia | John |
| 4 | Betty | William |
| 5 | Shirley | Richard |
| 6 | Carol | Charles |
| 7 | Nancy | David |
| 8 | Judith | Donald |
| 9 | Dorothy | Thomas |
| 10 | Margaret | Ronald |
Source: US Social Security Administration, from Social Security card applications. United States only; spellings are counted separately. Names by year and generation
They are the Silent Generation, the cohort born from 1928 to 1945. Pew Research Center draws the same boundary.
They turn 87 during 2026, or are already 87 if their birthday has passed.
About 2.5 million in the United States, the National Center for Health Statistics figure adjusted for under-registration. There is no comparable worldwide figure: UN World Population Prospects, the source of the worldwide count on later years, starts in 1950, and we do not estimate one.
About 2.27 billion, from Our World in Data's long-run population series, which uses Gapminder's estimates for the years before 1950.
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