The Baby Boomer generation’s overall health has been on a sharp decline. Australian researchers from Adelaide’s three universities have completed the first stage of a report on the generation born between the end of the Second World War and the mid-1960s.

Obesity among baby boomers is more than double the rate of their parents at the same age, and boomers with three or more chronic conditions was 700 percent greater than the previous generation.

Professor Graeme Hugo from the University of Adelaide said the findings were alarming and evidence that new public policies were needed.

“We have to do something now in terms of reducing obesity as a risk factor if we’re going to manage health costs into the future, but I think more importantly if baby boomers are going to be able to lead active and productive lives in their later years,” he said.

Seventy-six million American children were born between 1945 and 1964, representing a population that is significant on account of its size alone.