Act I
The World Stage
World Population
How many people shared the planet
people on Earth when you were born
5.1 billion more people have arrived since
You arrived in a world with fewer than 4 billion. It has more than doubled since.
1 in 80 people alive today was born in 1962.
World Leaders
Who was in charge
United States President
John F. Kennedy
President
UK Prime Minister
Harold Macmillan
Prime Minister
UN Secretary-General
U Thant
United Nations
World Events
Defining moments of 1962
John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit Earth, completing three orbits in Friendship 7 in under five hours
Algeria gains independence from France after an eight-year war, ending 132 years of French colonial rule
Cuban Missile Crisis brings the world to the brink of nuclear war as the US and USSR confront each other over Soviet missiles in Cuba
China defeats India in the Sino-Indian War, reshaping Asian geopolitics
US involvement in Vietnam deepens as the first US military helicopters arrive and American advisors take a more active combat role
Baby Names
Most popular names in 1962 (US)
Boys
Michael, David, John
Girls
Lisa, Mary, Susan
Atmosphere
CO₂ in the air you first breathed
CO₂ concentration (Keeling Curve)
+104.1 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
$5.9k US median household incomeAdjusted for inflation, that's worth about $61k in today's dollars.
Today: $80kPurchasing Power
Are we actually better off today?
What $6k in 1962 is worth right now
23% 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 1962
life expectancy at birth in 1962
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 2.1x the average annual salary
Median home now costs 5.3x the average annual salary
Housing has gotten 2.5x 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
Stranger on the Shore
Mr. Acker Bilk
Oscar Best Picture
West Side Story
Directed by Robert Wise & Jerome Robbins
Grammy Album of the Year
Judy at Carnegie Hall
Judy Garland
TV Premieres
Shows born the same year as you
Sports
Champions of the year
World Series
New York Yankees
Baseball
FIFA World Cup
Brazil
Football
F1 Champion
Graham Hill
Formula One
NBA Champion
Boston Celtics
Basketball
Screen & Page
What everyone was watching and reading
Most-Watched Show
Wagon Train
Television
Fiction Bestseller
Ship of Fools
Katherine Anne Porter
Box Office #1
How the West Was Won
Film
Act IV
The State of Technology
Technology Milestone
Where technology stood
John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit Earth; Telstar, the first active communications satellite, transmits live TV across the Atlantic
Notable Tech Releases
What launched that year
John Glenn orbits Earth three times in Friendship 7, becoming first American to do so
Telstar 1 satellite launched, enabling first live transatlantic TV transmission
Mariner 2 becomes first spacecraft to conduct a successful planetary encounter (Venus)
AT&T launches the Touch-Tone telephone
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
187M
people in United States
GDP per Capita
$3,244
per person per year
Your Birth Cohort
102M
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
Tom Cruise·Demi Moore·Jim Carrey·Jodie Foster·Wesley Snipes
Life Expectancy
Have we made progress?
United States life expectancy at birth
United States life expectancy today
8 years of progress. Steady gains from better medicine, nutrition, and public health.
Computing Power
How much faster the machines have gotten
4.3 billion times more powerfulComputing power has roughly doubled every two years since you were born. That adds up to 4.3 billion×.
32 doublings since 1962Milestone Years
Your milestone birthdays
You turn 65 in 2027 · You turn 100 in 2062
Language
Words that didn't exist when you were born
Still Alive
Jonathan the tortoise was already 130 years old
a Seychelles giant tortoise living on Saint Helena island. He was already 130 years old the year you were born. He's still alive today at 194.
You arrived in a world of 3.1 billion people. John F. Kennedy was in the White House. Stranger on the Shore by Mr. Acker Bilk 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 1962, 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