Act I
The World Stage
World Population
How many people shared the planet
people on Earth when you were born
3.5 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 1983.
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 1983
Final episode of M*A*S*H watched by a record 106 million Americans, the highest-rated US television broadcast ever
President Reagan proposes the Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars), aiming to build a missile defense shield
Korean Air Lines Flight 007 shot down by a Soviet fighter jet after straying into Soviet airspace, killing all 269 aboard
US Marines headquarters bombed in Beirut, killing 241; simultaneous attack kills 58 French paratroopers
US invades Grenada to oust Marxist government; Soviet early-warning system nearly triggers nuclear war by mistake (Able Archer 83)
Baby Names
Most popular names in 1983 (US)
Boys
Michael, Christopher, Matthew
Girls
Jennifer, Jessica, Amanda
Atmosphere
CO₂ in the air you first breathed
CO₂ concentration (Keeling Curve)
+79.4 ppm since your birth
CO₂ has climbed 23% since 1983. It's one of the few numbers that only goes up.
Act II
What Things Cost
Average Annual Salary
What workers took home
$20.9k 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 $21k in 1983 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 1983
life expectancy at birth in 1983
A 30.7-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
Every Breath You Take
The Police
Oscar Best Picture
Gandhi
Directed by Richard Attenborough
Grammy Album of the Year
Toto IV
Toto
TV Premieres
Shows born the same year as you
Sports
Champions of the year
World Series
Baltimore Orioles
Baseball
F1 Champion
Nelson Piquet
Formula One
Super Bowl
Washington Redskins
27-17 vs Miami Dolphins
NBA Champion
Philadelphia 76ers
Basketball
Screen & Page
What everyone was watching and reading
Most-Watched Show
Dallas
Television
Fiction Bestseller
Poland
James Michener
Box Office #1
Return of the Jedi
Film
Act IV
The State of Technology
Technology Milestone
Where technology stood
Apple Lisa introduces graphical user interface to consumers; Internet protocol names (DNS) established
Notable Tech Releases
What launched that year
Apple Lisa launched as first consumer computer with graphical user interface
Domain Name System (DNS) proposed, laying groundwork for website addresses
Microsoft Word version 1.0 released for MS-DOS
First mobile phone call made in the US using the AMPS cellular network
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
234M
people in United States
GDP per Capita
$16k
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
Carrie Underwood·Mila Kunis·Jesse Eisenberg·Jonah Hill·Amy Winehouse
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 1983Milestone Years
Your milestone birthdays
You turn 65 in 2048 · You turn 100 in 2083
Language
Words that didn't exist when you were born
Still Alive
Jonathan the tortoise was already 151 years old
a Seychelles giant tortoise living on Saint Helena island. He was already 151 years old the year you were born. He's still alive today at 194.
You arrived in a world of 4.7 billion people. Ronald Reagan was in the White House. Every Breath You Take by The Police was on the radio. You're part of the last generation that remembers a world without the internet.
In 1983, 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