The baby boom generation is reaching the height of its earning potential, and thus is an attractive target market for a variety of marketers. People aged 40 – 59 continue to grow strongly as a group online and, in fact, of all age groups showed the greatest rate of increase in internet access in 2004, according to Nielsen//NetRatings Netwatch.
Below is a ranking of the top sites visited last week by New Zealanders aged between 40 and 59, ranked
by the proportion of visitors in that age group.
Boomers have a wide variety of interests online, including news and gardening, and it seems that leisure activities aren’t too far from their minds.
The top sites visited by Baby boomers are theindependent.co.nz, ruralnews.co.nz, computerworld.co.nz, garden-nz.co.nz, nzsearch.co.nz, stuff.co.nz/rural, safetrader.co.nz, golf.co.nz, virtualnoc.co.nz, idg.co.nz
New Zealand’s population is steadily ageing as a result of the baby boom (1946 to 1965) being followed by a declining birth rate. As the baby boom generation has moved into adulthood, the median age for New Zealanders has increased from 25.8 years in 1966 to 33.0 years in 1996. As the figure shows, population projections suggest it will continue to rise as the baby boomers become the older population (those aged 65 years and over).
As larger cohorts move into the older age groups, the age structure of the older population will also change.
In 1956, most of the older population (128,878 people) were aged 65-74 years, making up two-thirds of those aged over 65. By 1996, the 246,633 people aged 65-74 years made up 58.0 percent of 65-plus people. Over the same period the 75-84-year-old age group increased from 59,183 to 137,571.
The biggest increase from 1956 to 1996 was for those aged 85 years and over. This group quadrupled from 4.8 percent of the total older population (9,534 people) in 1956 to 9.1 percent (38,463 people) in 1996.
Population projections indicate that by 2051 there will be 255,000 people aged over 85 years, accounting for 22.3 percent of the elderly population. By this time, 65 to 74-year-olds will make up 41.8 percent of the older population, down from 58.0 percent in 1996.