Birth year · Baby Boomers · 1946–1964
Born into a world of 2.80 billion people, where women had 4.9 children on average and a newborn could expect to live to 51.
Someone born in 1956 is a Baby Boomer — the generation born 1946–1964, a boundary Pew Research Center uses too. They turn 70 in 2026. About 101.8 million babies were born worldwide in 1956, about 4.2 million of them in the United States (UN estimates).
| World population | 2.80 billion |
| Babies born worldwide | 101.8 million |
| Babies born in the United States | 4.2 million |
| Children per woman, worldwide | 4.93 |
| Life expectancy at birth, worldwide | 50.7 years |
Every figure is a UN World Population Prospects 2024 estimate, republished by Our World in Data. Life expectancy is a period figure for the conditions of 1956, not a forecast for anyone born that year. Pages for years before 2010 list no events: we add history only where each item has been checked, and would rather show nothing than something half-remembered.
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
The cohort this year belongs to
Born between 1946 and 1964 during the post-war birth spike. Boomers hold roughly half of global wealth while making up about 14% of the population.
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.
They are Baby Boomers, the cohort born from 1946 to 1964. Pew Research Center draws the same boundary. Some other sources put the lines a year or two away, so a year near a boundary can be labelled differently elsewhere.
They turn 70 during 2026, or are already 70 if their birthday has passed.
About 101.8 million worldwide and about 4.2 million in the United States, according to UN World Population Prospects 2024 estimates.
About 2.80 billion, according to UN World Population Prospects 2024.
About 51 years worldwide at birth, as a period estimate. That is the average for the conditions of 1956, not a prediction for any one person, and it is pulled down heavily by deaths in infancy.
Jump to another year