Born in the 1940s

The world they were born into

The 1940s were dominated by the Second World War, which ended in 1945 after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The United Nations was founded the same year. India and Pakistan became independent in 1947, and in South Africa the National Party came to power in 1948 and began to write apartheid into law.

Growing up

In Britain the National Health Service opened in 1948, and across much of the western world the return of millions of servicemen started the baby boom from 1946. Rationing went on in Britain long after the war, and did not end until 1954, so children of the late 1940s grew up in the recovery, and in the queues.

Which generation

Births from 1940 to 1945 belong to the Silent Generation, and from 1946 to 1949 to the Baby Boomers. The boundaries are conventions rather than facts, and the generations page names the source for each one.

The marked line is 1940, where the decade begins.

Year by year

The Chinese year begins not on 1 January but at a new moon, usually the second after the December solstice, and from 1900 to 2100 always between 21 January and 20 February. In the 1940s it began as early as 22 January, in 1947, and as late as 15 February, in 1942, so a birthday in January or early February belongs to the animal of the year before. The table gives the day each year began.

New year dates are worked out from the new moons and the solar terms, and checked against published tables. Born before the new year →

Read on

• Silent Generation
• Baby Boomers
• How generations are defined
• The 1930s
• The 1950s
• Every year