Act I
The World Stage
World Population
How many people shared the planet
people on Earth when you were born
3.9 billion more people have arrived since
You are part of the last generation born into a world under 5 billion.
1 in 62 people alive today was born in 1978.
World Leaders
Who was in charge
United States President
Jimmy Carter
President
UK Prime Minister
James Callaghan
Prime Minister
UN Secretary-General
Kurt Waldheim
United Nations
World Events
Defining moments of 1978
Camp David Accords signed by Egypt and Israel brokered by President Carter, the first Arab-Israeli peace agreement
Pope Paul VI dies; Pope John Paul I elected but dies after only 33 days - the shortest papacy in modern history
Pope John Paul II elected, the first non-Italian pope in 455 years and first ever Polish pope
Jonestown massacre: 918 people die in Guyana after cult leader Jim Jones orders mass poisoning, the largest US civilian death toll before 9/11
China and the United States announce formal diplomatic recognition of each other
Baby Names
Most popular names in 1978 (US)
Boys
Michael, Jason, Christopher
Girls
Jennifer, Melissa, Jessica
Atmosphere
CO₂ in the air you first breathed
CO₂ concentration (Keeling Curve)
+87.1 ppm since your birth
CO₂ has climbed 26% since 1978. It's one of the few numbers that only goes up.
Act II
What Things Cost
Average Annual Salary
What workers took home
$15.1k 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 $15k in 1978 is worth right now
9% 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 1978
life expectancy at birth in 1978
A 31.0-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 3.2x the average annual salary
Median home now costs 5.3x the average annual salary
Housing has gotten 1.7x 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
Shadow Dancing
Andy Gibb
Oscar Best Picture
Annie Hall
Directed by Woody Allen
Grammy Album of the Year
Rumours
Fleetwood Mac
TV Premieres
Shows born the same year as you
Sports
Champions of the year
World Series
New York Yankees
Baseball
FIFA World Cup
Argentina
Football
F1 Champion
Mario Andretti
Formula One
Super Bowl
Dallas Cowboys
27-10 vs Denver Broncos
Screen & Page
What everyone was watching and reading
Most-Watched Show
Laverne & Shirley
Television
Fiction Bestseller
Chesapeake
James Michener
Box Office #1
Grease
Film
Act IV
The State of Technology
Technology Milestone
Where technology stood
First GPS satellite launched; VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet program, invented - creating the business case for personal computers
Notable Tech Releases
What launched that year
VisiCalc spreadsheet program introduced for Apple II, the first killer app for personal computers
First experimental GPS Block I satellite launched
Space Invaders arcade game released, starting the golden age of arcade games
Intel 8086 processor released, founding the x86 architecture used in PCs today
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
223M
people in United States
GDP per Capita
$11k
per person per year
Your Birth Cohort
132M
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
Kobe Bryant·Ashton Kutcher·Usher·James Franco·Nelly Furtado
Life Expectancy
Have we made progress?
United States life expectancy at birth
United States life expectancy today
5 years of progress. Steady gains from better medicine, nutrition, and public health.
Computing Power
How much faster the machines have gotten
16.8 million times more powerfulComputing power has roughly doubled every two years since you were born. That adds up to 16.8 million×.
24 doublings since 1978Milestone Years
Your milestone birthdays
You turn 65 in 2043 · You turn 100 in 2078
Language
Words that didn't exist when you were born
Still Alive
Jonathan the tortoise was already 146 years old
a Seychelles giant tortoise living on Saint Helena island. He was already 146 years old the year you were born. He's still alive today at 194.
You arrived in a world of 4.3 billion people. Jimmy Carter was in the White House. Shadow Dancing by Andy Gibb 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 1978, 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