Act I
The World Stage
World Population
How many people shared the planet
people on Earth when you were born
3.4 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 1984.
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 1984
Apple Computer launches the Macintosh in a famous Super Bowl commercial, revolutionizing personal computing
Sikh militants occupying the Golden Temple in Amritsar stormed by Indian Army in Operation Blue Star
Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi assassinated by her own Sikh bodyguards, triggering anti-Sikh riots killing 3,000
Ronald Reagan wins 49-state landslide reelection over Walter Mondale
Union Carbide gas leak in Bhopal, India kills thousands immediately; ultimately causes 15,000-20,000 deaths
Baby Names
Most popular names in 1984 (US)
Boys
Michael, Christopher, Matthew
Girls
Jennifer, Ashley, Jessica
Atmosphere
CO₂ in the air you first breathed
CO₂ concentration (Keeling Curve)
+77.5 ppm since your birth
CO₂ has climbed 22% since 1984. It's one of the few numbers that only goes up.
Act II
What Things Cost
Average Annual Salary
What workers took home
$22.4k US median household incomeAdjusted for inflation, that's worth about $68k in today's dollars.
Today: $80kPurchasing Power
Are we actually better off today?
What $22k in 1984 is worth right now
15% 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 1984
life expectancy at birth in 1984
A 31.2-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 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
When Doves Cry
Prince
Oscar Best Picture
Terms of Endearment
Directed by James L. Brooks
Grammy Album of the Year
Thriller
Michael Jackson
TV Premieres
Shows born the same year as you
Sports
Champions of the year
World Series
Detroit Tigers
Baseball
F1 Champion
Niki Lauda
Formula One
Super Bowl
Los Angeles Raiders
38-9 vs Washington Redskins
NBA Champion
Boston Celtics
Basketball
Screen & Page
What everyone was watching and reading
Most-Watched Show
Dynasty
Television
Fiction Bestseller
The Talisman
Stephen King & Peter Straub
Box Office #1
Beverly Hills Cop
Film
Act IV
The State of Technology
Technology Milestone
Where technology stood
Apple Macintosh introduced with revolutionary GUI; William Gibson's Neuromancer coins the term 'cyberspace'
Notable Tech Releases
What launched that year
Apple Macintosh unveiled January 24 in legendary Super Bowl ad, introducing GUI computing to the mass market
IBM PC AT with 80286 processor released
William Gibson publishes Neuromancer, defining cyberpunk and coining 'cyberspace'
MIDI becomes the standard for electronic music, enabling modern music production
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
236M
people in United States
GDP per Capita
$17k
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
Katy Perry·LeBron James·Scarlett Johansson·Mandy Moore·Mark Zuckerberg
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
2.1 million times more powerfulComputing power has roughly doubled every two years since you were born. That adds up to 2.1 million×.
21 doublings since 1984Milestone Years
Your milestone birthdays
You turn 65 in 2049 · You turn 100 in 2084
Language
Words that didn't exist when you were born
Still Alive
Jonathan the tortoise was already 152 years old
a Seychelles giant tortoise living on Saint Helena island. He was already 152 years old the year you were born. He's still alive today at 194.
You arrived in a world of 4.8 billion people. Ronald Reagan was in the White House. When Doves Cry by Prince was on the radio. You're part of the last generation that remembers a world without the internet.
In 1984, 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