The Census Bureau has published a new U.S. population estimate table confirming what insurance agents and advisors know in their guts: Some vintages of U.S. prospects are much bigger than others.
Many age distribution tables break down the U.S. population in terms of decades, or even generations. Those tables show that the baby boom generation, or the generation of people born from 1946 to 1964, is much bigger than the generation that came before it, or the "baby bust" generation that followed the baby boom. A new baby boomlet followed the baby bust. The people born during the baby boomlet are now all over about 20.
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The new Census Bureau table is different: It breaks down the population by single year of age, and it shows how government analysts believe the age distribution looked each year from 2010 through 2016.
The table shows, for example, that analysts believe the United States had 3.94 million babies under age 1 in 2010, and 3.97 million babies under age 1 in 2016.
The number of 99-year-olds may have increased from 32,300 in 2010 to 44,900 in 2016.
Marketers hoping to sell products to people ages 91 or older are in luck: The population in each single-year age group in that age range increased at least 30% between 2010 and 2016. The number of 98-year-olds soared 50%, to 6.9 million.