Baby boom in the context of Mid-20th century baby boom

The middle of the 20th century was marked by a significant and persistent increase in fertility rates in many countries, especially in the Western world. The term baby boom is often used to refer to this particular boom, generally considered to have started immediately after World War II, although some demographers place it earlier or during the war. This terminology led to those born during this baby boom being nicknamed the baby boom generation.

The boom coincided with a marriage boom. The increase in fertility was driven primarily by a decrease in childlessness and an increase in parity progression to a second child. In most of the Western countries, progression to a third child and beyond declined, which, coupled with aforementioned increase in transition to first and second child, resulted in higher homogeneity in family sizes. The baby boom was most prominent among educated and economically active women.

Welfare reforms are changes in the operation of a given welfare system aimed at improving the efficiency, equity, and administration of government assistance programs. Reform programs may have a various aims; sometimes the focus is on reducing or increasing the welfare state and at other times reforms may aim to ensure greater fairness and effectiveness at the same total welfare spending. Classical liberals, neoliberals, right-wing libertarians, and conservatives generally criticize welfare and other tax-funded services for reducing incentives to work, exacerbating the free-rider problem and redistribution. On the other hand, in their criticism of capitalism, both social democrats and other socialists generally criticize welfare reforms that minimize the public safety net and strengthen the capitalist economic system. Welfare reform is constantly debated because of the varying opinions on a government's need to balance providing guaranteed welfare benefits and promoting self-sufficiency.

From the 1970s, welfare systems came under greater scrutiny around the world. Demographic changes such as the post-war "baby boom" and the subsequent "baby bust", coupled with economic shifts such as the 1970 oil shocks, led to aging populations, a dwindling workforce, and increased dependency on social welfare systems, which inevitably brought up the issue of welfare reform. U.S. systems primarily focused on reducing poor single parents' need for welfare assistance through employment incentives. The United Kingdom focused primarily on reducing general unemployment through the New Deal introduced by the New Labour government in the 1990s. The Netherlands emphasized reforming disability programs, and Latin America focused primarily on pension reforms.