Act I
The World Stage
World Population
How many people shared the planet
people on Earth when you were born
5.2 billion more people have arrived since
You arrived in a world with fewer than 4 billion. It has more than doubled since.
1 in 84 people alive today was born in 1960.
World Leaders
Who was in charge
United States President
Dwight D. Eisenhower
President
UK Prime Minister
Harold Macmillan
Prime Minister
UN Secretary-General
Dag Hammarskjöld
United Nations
World Events
Defining moments of 1960
Sit-in protests begin at Woolworth lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, sparking the Civil Rights movement
U-2 spy plane incident - Soviet Union shoots down American reconnaissance aircraft, pilot Francis Gary Powers captured
First televised presidential debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, a landmark in political history
Nigeria gains independence from Britain, part of the 'Year of Africa' as 17 nations gain independence
John F. Kennedy elected 35th US President, defeating Richard Nixon in one of the closest elections in history
Baby Names
Most popular names in 1960 (US)
Boys
David, Michael, James
Girls
Mary, Susan, Linda
Atmosphere
CO₂ in the air you first breathed
CO₂ concentration (Keeling Curve)
+105.6 ppm since your birth
The air has 33% more CO₂ now than the day you took your first breath.
Act II
What Things Cost
Average Annual Salary
What workers took home
$5.6k US median household incomeAdjusted for inflation, that's worth about $59k in today's dollars.
Today: $80kPurchasing Power
Are we actually better off today?
What $6k in 1960 is worth right now
26% less purchasing power than today's median
Wages have grown, but housing, healthcare, and education have grown faster. The math isn't in your favor.
The Birth Lottery
Same year. Different world.
life expectancy at birth in 1960
life expectancy at birth in 1960
A 36.2-year gap, decided entirely by where you happened to be born. Same year, different world.
Everyday Prices
What things cost
Housing
Homes vs. salaries - then and now
Median home cost 2.3x the average annual salary
Median home now costs 5.3x the average annual salary
Housing has gotten 2.3x harder to afford relative to income. Your parents weren't exaggerating about how cheap houses were.
Act III
What Was Playing
Billboard Year-End #1
Theme from A Summer Place
Percy Faith
Oscar Best Picture
Ben-Hur
Directed by William Wyler
Grammy Album of the Year
The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart
Bob Newhart
TV Premieres
Shows born the same year as you
Sports
Champions of the year
World Series
Pittsburgh Pirates
Baseball
F1 Champion
Jack Brabham
Formula One
NBA Champion
Boston Celtics
Basketball
Wimbledon Men's
Neale Fraser
Tennis
Screen & Page
What everyone was watching and reading
Most-Watched Show
Gunsmoke
Television
Fiction Bestseller
Advise and Consent
Allen Drury
Box Office #1
Spartacus
Film
Act IV
The State of Technology
Technology Milestone
Where technology stood
Echo 1, the world's first communications satellite, launched by NASA
Notable Tech Releases
What launched that year
Echo 1 communications satellite launched by NASA
COBOL programming language standardized
DEC PDP-1, the first minicomputer, introduced
IBM 1401 business computer launched, becoming most popular of the era
Social Media Timeline
How old were you when these launched?
The Universe
Worlds discovered beyond our solar system
No exoplanets confirmed yet
confirmed and counting
When you were born, humanity had no proof that planets existed outside our solar system. Now we know they're everywhere.
Act V
Your Place in Time
🇺🇸 United States
Your country the year you arrived
Population
181M
people in United States
GDP per Capita
$3,007
per person per year
Your Birth Cohort
98M
babies born worldwide that year
Your birth year is closer to the assassination of JFK than to today.
Notable Births
Born the same year as you
Bono·Diego Maradona·Daryl Hannah·Colin Firth·Ayrton Senna
Life Expectancy
Have we made progress?
United States life expectancy at birth
United States life expectancy today
9 years of progress. Steady gains from better medicine, nutrition, and public health.
Computing Power
How much faster the machines have gotten
8.6 billion times more powerfulComputing power has roughly doubled every two years since you were born. That adds up to 8.6 billion×.
33 doublings since 1960Milestone Years
Your milestone birthdays
You turn 100 in 2060
Language
Words that didn't exist when you were born
Still Alive
Jonathan the tortoise was already 128 years old
a Seychelles giant tortoise living on Saint Helena island. He was already 128 years old the year you were born. He's still alive today at 194.
You arrived in a world of 3.0 billion people. Dwight D. Eisenhower was in the White House. Theme from A Summer Place by Percy Faith was on the radio. You arrived in a decade of upheaval. Civil rights, the space race, a world on the brink. And somehow, here you are.
In 1960, hearing a new voice meant tuning into the radio.
Today, you can clone your own voice with a few minutes of audio.
Hear what that sounds like →keep exploring