Baby Boomers

76 million
Born 1946 to 1964
Formative years: 1956 to 1974
Age in 2009: 45 to 63

The booming post-World War II economy fostered the notion that all things were possible, and a majority of Boomers grew up in affluence with a vision of unlimited opportunity. Broadcast television forged a nationally shared cultural experience; the powerful new medium shocked the nation by bringing race riots and the Vietnam War into the family room. Dr. Spock introduced a new approach to child rearing that put the needs of the child first. The resulting drive for self fulfillment, combined with the sexual revolution, led to a divorce epidemic. Yet Boomers, driven to compete with 78 million peers in the workplace, were not entirely self indulgent: They came to define themselves by their work.