A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Growing Pains: The Challenge of Overcrowded Schools Is Here to Stay -- (August 21, 2000)

Figure 1.--Annual number of births, with projections: 1908 to 2028

The surge in the number of births after World War II, nicknamed the "baby boom," lasted through the early 1960s. At the peak in 1957, 4.3 million births were recorded, an increase of 19 percent from 1948.

In contrast, the "baby boom echo," which began in the late 1970s, reached 4.1 million births at its peak in 1990, reflecting a 25 percent increase from 1977. Unlike the decline in the post-baby boom era, when births dropped down to 3.1 million in the early 1970s, the number of births in the post-baby boom echo era is expected to remain fairly stable at nearly 4 million for about a decade.

Long-range projections by the U.S. Bureau of the Census indicate a rising number of births thereafter, from 4.2 million in 2010 to 4.8 million in 2028, establishing a ?millenni-boom?.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Projections of Education Statistics to 2010; and U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Population Projections of the United States by Age, Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin: 1995 to 2050.


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[ Figure 2.-- Projected number of school-aged children, 5 to 17 years old: 2000 to 2100 ]

Last Updated -- August 22, 2000, (lvb)