Act I
The World Stage
World Population
How many people shared the planet
people on Earth when you were born
2.8 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 58 people alive today was born in 1991.
World Leaders
Who was in charge
United States President
George H. W. Bush
President
UK Prime Minister
John Major
Prime Minister
UN Secretary-General
Javier Pérez de Cuéllar
United Nations
World Events
Defining moments of 1991
Gulf War: US-led coalition launches Operation Desert Storm, liberating Kuwait from Iraq in 100 hours of ground combat
Yugoslavia begins to break apart as Slovenia and Croatia declare independence, starting a decade of Balkan wars
Failed coup against Gorbachev in Moscow; Boris Yeltsin stands on a tank to defend democracy
Magic Johnson announces he is HIV-positive, transforming public understanding of the AIDS epidemic
Soviet Union formally dissolved on Christmas Day; Gorbachev resigns; 15 independent nations emerge
Baby Names
Most popular names in 1991 (US)
Boys
Michael, Christopher, Joshua
Girls
Ashley, Jessica, Brittany
Atmosphere
CO₂ in the air you first breathed
CO₂ concentration (Keeling Curve)
+66.9 ppm since your birth
CO₂ has climbed 19% since 1991. It's one of the few numbers that only goes up.
Act II
What Things Cost
Average Annual Salary
What workers took home
$30.1k US median household incomeAdjusted for inflation, that's worth about $69k in today's dollars.
Today: $80kPurchasing Power
Are we actually better off today?
What $30k in 1991 is worth right now
13% 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 1991
life expectancy at birth in 1991
A 33.6-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
(Everything I Do) I Do It for You
Bryan Adams
Oscar Best Picture
Dances with Wolves
Directed by Kevin Costner
Grammy Album of the Year
Back on the Block
Quincy Jones
TV Premieres
Shows born the same year as you
Sports
Champions of the year
World Series
Minnesota Twins
Baseball
F1 Champion
Ayrton Senna
Formula One
Super Bowl
New York Giants
20-19 vs Buffalo Bills
NBA Champion
Chicago Bulls
Basketball
Screen & Page
What everyone was watching and reading
Most-Watched Show
Cheers
Television
Fiction Bestseller
Scarlett
Alexandra Ripley
Box Office #1
The Silence of the Lambs
Film
Act IV
The State of Technology
Technology Milestone
Where technology stood
World Wide Web goes public; Linux kernel released; Soviet internet nodes go online
Notable Tech Releases
What launched that year
World Wide Web made publicly available by CERN in August
Linus Torvalds releases Linux kernel 0.01, beginning the open-source revolution
Apple PowerBook 100 introduces the modern laptop form factor with trackball
id Software releases Wolfenstein 3D, creating the first-person shooter genre
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
253M
people in United States
GDP per Capita
$24k
per person per year
Your Birth Cohort
141M
babies born worldwide that year
Your birth year is closer to the dissolution of the Soviet Union than to today.
Notable Births
Born the same year as you
Ed Sheeran·Emma Roberts·Kygo·Kevin De Bruyne
Life Expectancy
Have we made progress?
United States life expectancy at birth
United States life expectancy today
A small gain, but every year counts.
Computing Power
How much faster the machines have gotten
262,144 times more powerfulComputing power has roughly doubled every two years since you were born. That adds up to 262,144×.
18 doublings since 1991Milestone Years
Your milestone birthdays
You turn 40 in 2031 · You turn 65 in 2056 · You turn 100 in 2091
Language
Words that didn't exist when you were born
Still Alive
Jonathan the tortoise was already 159 years old
a Seychelles giant tortoise living on Saint Helena island. He was already 159 years old the year you were born. He's still alive today at 194.
You arrived in a world of 5.4 billion people. George H. W. Bush was in the White House. (Everything I Do) I Do It for You by Bryan Adams was on the radio. You came of age as the internet rewired everything - and you were young enough to adapt.
In 1991, capturing your voice meant a voicemail or a camcorder.
Today, you can clone your own voice with a few minutes of audio.
Hear what that sounds like →keep exploring