Act I
The World Stage
World Population
How many people shared the planet
people on Earth when you were born
3.6 billion more people have arrived since
You are part of the last generation born into a world under 5 billion.
1 in 64 people alive today was born in 1982.
World Leaders
Who was in charge
United States President
Ronald Reagan
President
UK Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher
Prime Minister
UN Secretary-General
Javier Pérez de Cuéllar
United Nations
World Events
Defining moments of 1982
Falklands War begins as Argentina invades the British Falkland Islands; Britain sends a naval task force 8,000 miles south
Falklands War ends with British victory; Argentina surrenders after 74 days of fighting
Israel invades Lebanon, beginning an 18-year occupation and triggering the Lebanese Civil War's worst phase
Sabra and Shatila massacre: Lebanese Christian militias kill hundreds of Palestinian refugees in Beirut camps under Israeli watch
Leonid Brezhnev dies after 18 years as Soviet leader; Yuri Andropov succeeds him
Baby Names
Most popular names in 1982 (US)
Boys
Michael, Christopher, Matthew
Girls
Jennifer, Jessica, Amanda
Atmosphere
CO₂ in the air you first breathed
CO₂ concentration (Keeling Curve)
+81.1 ppm since your birth
CO₂ has climbed 24% since 1982. It's one of the few numbers that only goes up.
Act II
What Things Cost
Average Annual Salary
What workers took home
$20.2k US median household incomeAdjusted for inflation, that's worth about $66k in today's dollars.
Today: $80kPurchasing Power
Are we actually better off today?
What $20k in 1982 is worth right now
18% 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 1982
life expectancy at birth in 1982
A 30.3-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 3.4x 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
I Love Rock 'n' Roll
Joan Jett & the Blackhearts
Oscar Best Picture
Chariots of Fire
Directed by Warren Beatty
Grammy Album of the Year
Double Fantasy
John Lennon & Yoko Ono
TV Premieres
Shows born the same year as you
Sports
Champions of the year
World Series
St. Louis Cardinals
Baseball
FIFA World Cup
Italy
Football
F1 Champion
Keke Rosberg
Formula One
Super Bowl
San Francisco 49ers
26-21 vs Cincinnati Bengals
Screen & Page
What everyone was watching and reading
Most-Watched Show
Dallas
Television
Fiction Bestseller
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
William Kotzwinkle
Box Office #1
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Film
Act IV
The State of Technology
Technology Milestone
Where technology stood
Commodore 64 released, becoming the best-selling personal computer of all time; TCP/IP protocols adopted, creating the modern internet
Notable Tech Releases
What launched that year
Commodore 64 introduced for $595, eventually becoming best-selling personal computer in history
ARPANET officially adopts TCP/IP on January 1 - the true birthday of the modern internet
Compaq Computer releases its first IBM PC-compatible computer, launching the clone era
Intel 80286 processor released, bringing protected mode memory to PCs
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
232M
people in United States
GDP per Capita
$14k
per person per year
Your Birth Cohort
128M
babies born worldwide that year
Your birth year is closer to the fall of the Berlin Wall than to today.
Notable Births
Born the same year as you
Prince William·Anne Hathaway·Kelly Clarkson·Kirsten Dunst·LeAnn Rimes
Life Expectancy
Have we made progress?
United States life expectancy at birth
United States life expectancy today
4 years of progress. Steady gains from better medicine, nutrition, and public health.
Computing Power
How much faster the machines have gotten
4.2 million times more powerfulComputing power has roughly doubled every two years since you were born. That adds up to 4.2 million×.
22 doublings since 1982Milestone Years
Your milestone birthdays
You turn 65 in 2047 · You turn 100 in 2082
Language
Words that didn't exist when you were born
Still Alive
Jonathan the tortoise was already 150 years old
a Seychelles giant tortoise living on Saint Helena island. He was already 150 years old the year you were born. He's still alive today at 194.
You arrived in a world of 4.6 billion people. Ronald Reagan was in the White House. I Love Rock 'n' Roll by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts was on the radio. You're part of the last generation that remembers a world without the internet.
In 1982, your voice lived on answering machines and camcorder tapes.
Today, you can clone your own voice with a few minutes of audio.
Hear what that sounds like →keep exploring