Act I
The World Stage
World Population
How many people shared the planet
people on Earth when you were born
4.8 billion more people have arrived since
You arrived in a world with fewer than 4 billion. It has more than doubled since.
1 in 69 people alive today was born in 1966.
World Leaders
Who was in charge
United States President
Lyndon B. Johnson
President
UK Prime Minister
Harold Wilson
Prime Minister
UN Secretary-General
U Thant
United Nations
World Events
Defining moments of 1966
Indira Gandhi elected Prime Minister of India, becoming the first woman to lead the world's largest democracy
Mao Zedong launches the Cultural Revolution in China with the May 16 Notification, unleashing mass political persecution and social upheaval
England wins the FIFA World Cup on home soil, defeating West Germany 4-2 in extra time at Wembley
Florence, Italy devastated by catastrophic flooding of the Arno River, damaging thousands of irreplaceable artworks and manuscripts
US troop strength in Vietnam reaches 385,000 as the war escalates dramatically
Baby Names
Most popular names in 1966 (US)
Boys
Michael, David, James
Girls
Lisa, Kimberly, Karen
Atmosphere
CO₂ in the air you first breathed
CO₂ concentration (Keeling Curve)
+101.1 ppm since your birth
The air has 31% more CO₂ now than the day you took your first breath.
Act II
What Things Cost
Average Annual Salary
What workers took home
$7.4k US median household incomeAdjusted for inflation, that's worth about $72k in today's dollars.
Today: $80kPurchasing Power
Are we actually better off today?
What $7k in 1966 is worth right now
10% 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 1966
life expectancy at birth in 1966
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 2.9x the average annual salary
Median home now costs 5.3x the average annual salary
Housing has gotten 1.8x 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
The Ballad of the Green Berets
Sgt. Barry Sadler
Oscar Best Picture
The Sound of Music
Directed by Robert Wise
Grammy Album of the Year
September of My Years
Frank Sinatra
TV Premieres
Shows born the same year as you
Sports
Champions of the year
World Series
Baltimore Orioles
Baseball
FIFA World Cup
England
Football
F1 Champion
Jack Brabham
Formula One
NBA Champion
Boston Celtics
Basketball
Screen & Page
What everyone was watching and reading
Most-Watched Show
Bonanza
Television
Fiction Bestseller
Valley of the Dolls
Jacqueline Susann
Box Office #1
Hawaii
Film
Act IV
The State of Technology
Technology Milestone
Where technology stood
Luna 9 makes the first soft landing on the Moon; Surveyor 1 confirms the Moon's surface can support a spacecraft
Notable Tech Releases
What launched that year
Luna 9 makes the first successful soft landing on the Moon
Surveyor 1 spacecraft lands on the Moon, confirming it can support Apollo landers
Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) concept invented at IBM
The Gemini program completes with Gemini 12, paving the way for Apollo
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
197M
people in United States
GDP per Capita
$4,146
per person per year
Your Birth Cohort
118M
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
Janet Jackson·Adam Sandler·Halle Berry·Helena Bonham Carter·Mike Tyson
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
1.1 billion times more powerfulComputing power has roughly doubled every two years since you were born. That adds up to 1.1 billion×.
30 doublings since 1966Milestone Years
Your milestone birthdays
You turn 65 in 2031 · You turn 100 in 2066
Language
Words that didn't exist when you were born
Still Alive
Jonathan the tortoise was already 134 years old
a Seychelles giant tortoise living on Saint Helena island. He was already 134 years old the year you were born. He's still alive today at 194.
You arrived in a world of 3.4 billion people. Lyndon B. Johnson was in the White House. The Ballad of the Green Berets by Sgt. Barry Sadler 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 1966, 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