Act I
The World Stage
World Population
How many people shared the planet
people on Earth when you were born
3.0 billion more people have arrived since
The world crossed 6 billion around the time you were born. It will likely never reach 12.
1 in 59 people alive today was born in 1989.
World Leaders
Who was in charge
United States President
Ronald Reagan (to Jan), then George H. W. Bush
President
UK Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher
Prime Minister
UN Secretary-General
Javier Pérez de Cuéllar
United Nations
World Events
Defining moments of 1989
Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska, spilling 11 million gallons in America's worst oil spill
Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing grow to hundreds of thousands; government declares martial law
Tiananmen Square massacre: Chinese military kills hundreds or thousands of democracy protesters
Berlin Wall falls after East Germany opens its borders; crowds tear down the wall amid celebrations across Germany
Romanian Revolution: Nicolae Ceausescu overthrown and executed on Christmas Day, ending communist rule
Baby Names
Most popular names in 1989 (US)
Boys
Michael, Christopher, Matthew
Girls
Jessica, Ashley, Brittany
Atmosphere
CO₂ in the air you first breathed
CO₂ concentration (Keeling Curve)
+69.4 ppm since your birth
CO₂ has climbed 20% since 1989. It's one of the few numbers that only goes up.
Act II
What Things Cost
Average Annual Salary
What workers took home
$28.9k US median household incomeAdjusted for inflation, that's worth about $73k in today's dollars.
Today: $80kPurchasing Power
Are we actually better off today?
What $29k in 1989 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 1989
life expectancy at birth in 1989
A 33.0-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
Look Away
Chicago
Oscar Best Picture
Rain Man
Directed by Barry Levinson
Grammy Album of the Year
Faith
George Michael
TV Premieres
Shows born the same year as you
Sports
Champions of the year
World Series
Oakland Athletics
Baseball
F1 Champion
Alain Prost
Formula One
Super Bowl
San Francisco 49ers
20-16 vs Cincinnati Bengals
NBA Champion
Detroit Pistons
Basketball
Screen & Page
What everyone was watching and reading
Most-Watched Show
Roseanne
Television
Fiction Bestseller
Clear and Present Danger
Tom Clancy
Box Office #1
Batman
Film
Act IV
The State of Technology
Technology Milestone
Where technology stood
Tim Berners-Lee proposes the World Wide Web at CERN; Nintendo Game Boy launches globally
Notable Tech Releases
What launched that year
Tim Berners-Lee submits his proposal for the World Wide Web at CERN on March 12
Nintendo Game Boy released worldwide, selling 118 million units over its lifetime
Intel 486 processor released, with 1.2 million transistors and integrated math coprocessor
First commercial internet service providers begin offering dial-up access
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
247M
people in United States
GDP per Capita
$23k
per person per year
Your Birth Cohort
138M
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
Taylor Swift·Jordin Sparks·Brie Larson·Daniel Radcliffe·Nina Dobrev
Life Expectancy
Have we made progress?
United States life expectancy at birth
United States life expectancy today
3 years of progress. Steady gains from better medicine, nutrition, and public health.
Computing Power
How much faster the machines have gotten
524,288 times more powerfulComputing power has roughly doubled every two years since you were born. That adds up to 524,288×.
19 doublings since 1989Milestone Years
Your milestone birthdays
You turn 40 in 2029 · You turn 65 in 2054 · You turn 100 in 2089
Language
Words that didn't exist when you were born
Still Alive
Jonathan the tortoise was already 157 years old
a Seychelles giant tortoise living on Saint Helena island. He was already 157 years old the year you were born. He's still alive today at 194.
You arrived in a world of 5.2 billion people. Ronald Reagan (to Jan), then George H. W. Bush was in the White House. Look Away by Chicago was on the radio. You're part of the last generation that remembers a world without the internet.
In 1989, 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