Act I
The World Stage
World Population
How many people shared the planet
people on Earth when you were born
5.0 billion more people have arrived since
You arrived in a world with fewer than 4 billion. It has more than doubled since.
1 in 79 people alive today was born in 1963.
World Leaders
Who was in charge
United States President
John F. Kennedy (to Nov), then Lyndon B. Johnson
President
UK Prime Minister
Harold Macmillan (to Oct), then Alec Douglas-Home
Prime Minister
UN Secretary-General
U Thant
United Nations
World Events
Defining moments of 1963
Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space, orbiting Earth 48 times over nearly three days in Vostok 6
Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his 'I Have a Dream' speech to 250,000 people at the March on Washington
Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty signed by the US, USSR, and UK, prohibiting nuclear tests in the atmosphere
President John F. Kennedy assassinated in Dallas, Texas; Lyndon B. Johnson sworn in as president
Lee Harvey Oswald, suspected Kennedy assassin, shot and killed by Jack Ruby in Dallas police headquarters
Baby Names
Most popular names in 1963 (US)
Boys
Michael, John, David
Girls
Lisa, Mary, Susan
Atmosphere
CO₂ in the air you first breathed
CO₂ concentration (Keeling Curve)
+103.5 ppm since your birth
The air has 32% more CO₂ now than the day you took your first breath.
Act II
What Things Cost
Average Annual Salary
What workers took home
$6.2k US median household incomeAdjusted for inflation, that's worth about $64k in today's dollars.
Today: $80kPurchasing Power
Are we actually better off today?
What $6k in 1963 is worth right now
21% 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 1963
life expectancy at birth in 1963
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
Sugar Shack
Jimmy Gilmer & The Fireballs
Oscar Best Picture
Lawrence of Arabia
Directed by David Lean
Grammy Album of the Year
The First Family
Vaughn Meader
TV Premieres
Shows born the same year as you
Sports
Champions of the year
World Series
Los Angeles Dodgers
Baseball
F1 Champion
Jim Clark
Formula One
NBA Champion
Boston Celtics
Basketball
Wimbledon Men's
Chuck McKinley
Tennis
Screen & Page
What everyone was watching and reading
Most-Watched Show
The Beverly Hillbillies
Television
Fiction Bestseller
The Shoes of the Fisherman
Morris L. West
Box Office #1
Cleopatra
Film
Act IV
The State of Technology
Technology Milestone
Where technology stood
The first geosynchronous communications satellite (Syncom 2) is launched; the hotline between Washington and Moscow is established
Notable Tech Releases
What launched that year
Syncom 2, first geosynchronous communications satellite, launched by NASA
Washington-Moscow hotline established following Cuban Missile Crisis
First touch-tone telephones introduced commercially in the US
Polaroid introduces the first instant color film camera
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
189M
people in United States
GDP per Capita
$3,375
per person per year
Your Birth Cohort
104M
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
Michael Jordan·Johnny Depp·Brad Pitt·Quentin Tarantino·Whitney Houston
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
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 1963Milestone Years
Your milestone birthdays
You turn 65 in 2028 · You turn 100 in 2063
Language
Words that didn't exist when you were born
Still Alive
Jonathan the tortoise was already 131 years old
a Seychelles giant tortoise living on Saint Helena island. He was already 131 years old the year you were born. He's still alive today at 194.
You arrived in a world of 3.2 billion people. John F. Kennedy (to Nov), then Lyndon B. Johnson was in the White House. Sugar Shack by Jimmy Gilmer & The Fireballs 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 1963, 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