Things were better back in my day. Now it’s just nonsense! Ok, boomer.

You’ve probably heard this expression. It means someone from an older generation.

A “boomer” is someone who was born during the baby-boom, between 1945 and the end of the 60s.

After the Second World War, the birth rate skyrocketed in the US and Western Europe.

There was an “explosion” of babies, or baby-boom.

This was due mainly to strong economic development. People were optimistic, so they had more children.

Later on, with the rise of unemployment, the number of babies went down.

Contraception also meant women could choose to be pregnant or not.

Some people thought there would be a new baby-boom in Europe after the lockdown, but it hasn’t happened.

However, countries in south-east Asia, like Indonesia, are expecting a steep rise in births following the pandemic.

According to NGOs, many families without income were driven by poverty to marry their daughters very young.

And with the lockdown, access to contraceptives has become difficult regrets the National family planning agency.

Indonesia is expecting over 400,000 more babies compared to last year’s figures.