The Rise of the Cougar

Posted on 31. May, 2007 by John Roblinsky in Cougars Defined

I’m not too sure why cougars are getting so much attention these days.  Maybe it’s a cyclical thing that comes every generation and we’re just rediscovering it now.  Or maybe there’s an increase in liberated older women who have independent incomes and free will.  Whatever it is, here are some stats on two generations of cougars that may give us some insight.

Of the cougar clan, the babyboomer generation is leading the way with 42+ million females between the ages of 40 and 59 according to the 2005 US census.  They outnumber the males in this generation by about 1.5 million and of those 42 million, only 65% are married with their spouse present, leaving 14.9 million lady baby boomers who aren’t locked down and could be on the prowl.  In 1995, there were only 10.2 million females in the same age/marital status group meaning there has been a 47% increase in cougars in the last ten years (1995-2005).

But you say, “Mr. Roblunskee-skee-skee, I’m not shackin up with no 60 year old pelt, I’m only 20.”

And I don’t blame you.  Any g-milf, baby boomer coug who lived through the Summer of Love, three wars, and Dick Nixon will work you so hard you’ll weep for a decade.  So let’s move on to the cougar generation who is really coming into their own: Generation X.

According to Douglas Coupland, author of Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, a Gen X’er is someone born between 1965 and 1978, but because 29 is a little young for us, we’ll just look at the 2005 demographics of women between the ages of 30 and 39 (who are now about 32-41).

Overall, there was a 10% drop in the total number of females age 30-39 between 1995 and 2005.  Amazingly, even with this drop, the number of these cougs who aren’t married has only gone down 3.6% leaving us with about 7.4 million ripe gen-x cougies.  Nice!

In conclusion, with around 22 million eligible cougs age 30-59 out there, the pickins should be plenty.  Especially when you consider that there are only 21 million men between the ages of 20-29 aka the Boomerang Generation total!  With more than one eligible cougar per 20-something man, I declare hunting season OPEN.

[Reference: US Census]

Tags: baby boomer, census, generation x, stats