Act I
The World Stage
World Population
How many people shared the planet
people on Earth when you were born
4.1 billion more people have arrived since
You are part of the last generation born into a world under 5 billion.
1 in 66 people alive today was born in 1975.
World Leaders
Who was in charge
United States President
Gerald Ford
President
UK Prime Minister
Harold Wilson
Prime Minister
UN Secretary-General
Kurt Waldheim
United Nations
World Events
Defining moments of 1975
Fall of Saigon - South Vietnam surrenders to North Vietnam, ending the Vietnam War after 20 years
Khmer Rouge seizes Phnom Penh, beginning the Cambodian genocide under Pol Pot
India's Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declares state of emergency, suspending civil liberties
Apollo-Soyuz Test Project - first US-Soviet joint space mission, symbolizing detente
Australian constitutional crisis - Governor-General dismisses Prime Minister Gough Whitlam
Baby Names
Most popular names in 1975 (US)
Boys
Michael, Jason, Christopher
Girls
Jennifer, Amy, Heather
Atmosphere
CO₂ in the air you first breathed
CO₂ concentration (Keeling Curve)
+91.4 ppm since your birth
CO₂ has climbed 28% since 1975. It's one of the few numbers that only goes up.
Act II
What Things Cost
Average Annual Salary
What workers took home
$11.8k US median household incomeAdjusted for inflation, that's worth about $69k in today's dollars.
Today: $80kPurchasing Power
Are we actually better off today?
What $12k in 1975 is worth right now
14% 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 1975
life expectancy at birth in 1975
A 32.9-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 3.3x the average annual salary
Median home now costs 5.3x the average annual salary
Housing has gotten 1.6x 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
Love Will Keep Us Together
Captain & Tennille
Oscar Best Picture
The Godfather Part II
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Grammy Album of the Year
Fulfillingness' First Finale
Stevie Wonder
TV Premieres
Shows born the same year as you
Sports
Champions of the year
World Series
Cincinnati Reds
Baseball
F1 Champion
Niki Lauda
Formula One
Super Bowl
Pittsburgh Steelers
16-6 vs Minnesota Vikings
NBA Champion
Golden State Warriors
Basketball
Screen & Page
What everyone was watching and reading
Most-Watched Show
All in the Family
Television
Fiction Bestseller
Ragtime
E.L. Doctorow
Box Office #1
Jaws
Film
Act IV
The State of Technology
Technology Milestone
Where technology stood
Altair 8800 personal computer kit released, sparking the personal computing revolution
Notable Tech Releases
What launched that year
Altair 8800 personal computer kit released, inspiring Gates and Allen to found Microsoft
Bill Gates and Paul Allen found Microsoft on April 4, 1975
Sony Betamax home video recorder released in Japan
First US commercial FM stereo subcarrier service launched
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
216M
people in United States
GDP per Capita
$7,801
per person per year
Your Birth Cohort
124M
babies born worldwide that year
Your birth year is closer to the moon landing than to today.
Notable Births
Born the same year as you
Tiger Woods·Angelina Jolie·David Beckham·Kate Winslet·Lauryn Hill
Life Expectancy
Have we made progress?
United States life expectancy at birth
United States life expectancy today
6 years of progress. Steady gains from better medicine, nutrition, and public health.
Computing Power
How much faster the machines have gotten
67.1 million times more powerfulComputing power has roughly doubled every two years since you were born. That adds up to 67.1 million×.
26 doublings since 1975Milestone Years
Your milestone birthdays
You turn 65 in 2040 · You turn 100 in 2075
Language
Words that didn't exist when you were born
Still Alive
Jonathan the tortoise was already 143 years old
a Seychelles giant tortoise living on Saint Helena island. He was already 143 years old the year you were born. He's still alive today at 194.
You arrived in a world of 4.1 billion people. Gerald Ford was in the White House. Love Will Keep Us Together by Captain & Tennille was on the radio. You grew up in the last decade where being unreachable was normal. No pagers, no cell phones, just the world right in front of you.
In 1975, recording your voice meant pressing play+record on a cassette.
Today, you can clone your own voice with a few minutes of audio.
Hear what that sounds like →keep exploring