Act I
The World Stage
World Population
How many people shared the planet
people on Earth when you were born
2.4 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 60 people alive today was born in 1996.
World Leaders
Who was in charge
United States President
Bill Clinton
President
UK Prime Minister
John Major
Prime Minister
UN Secretary-General
Boutros Boutros-Ghali (to Dec), then Kofi Annan
United Nations
World Events
Defining moments of 1996
Dunblane school massacre in Scotland kills 16 children and 1 teacher, leading to UK handgun ban
TWA Flight 800 explodes off Long Island killing 230, triggering the longest aviation investigation in US history
Summer Olympics open in Atlanta; Centennial Olympic Park bombing kills 2 during the Games
Taliban capture Kabul, imposing strict Islamic law and banning women from schools and work across Afghanistan
Bill Clinton re-elected US President, defeating Bob Dole with 379 electoral votes
Baby Names
Most popular names in 1996 (US)
Boys
Michael, Matthew, Tyler
Girls
Emily, Jessica, Ashley
Atmosphere
CO₂ in the air you first breathed
CO₂ concentration (Keeling Curve)
+59.9 ppm since your birth
CO₂ has climbed 17% since 1996. It's one of the few numbers that only goes up.
Act II
What Things Cost
Average Annual Salary
What workers took home
$35.5k US median household incomeAdjusted for inflation, that's worth about $71k in today's dollars.
Today: $80kPurchasing Power
Are we actually better off today?
What $35k in 1996 is worth right now
11% 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 1996
life expectancy at birth in 1996
A 34.2-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 3.3x 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
Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix)
Los Del Rio
Oscar Best Picture
Braveheart
Directed by Mel Gibson
Grammy Album of the Year
Jagged Little Pill
Alanis Morissette
TV Premieres
Shows born the same year as you
Sports
Champions of the year
World Series
New York Yankees
Baseball
F1 Champion
Damon Hill
Formula One
Super Bowl
Dallas Cowboys
27-17 vs Pittsburgh Steelers
NBA Champion
Chicago Bulls
Basketball
Screen & Page
What everyone was watching and reading
Most-Watched Show
ER
Television
Fiction Bestseller
The Runaway Jury
John Grisham
Box Office #1
Independence Day
Film
Act IV
The State of Technology
Technology Milestone
Where technology stood
Google founders meet at Stanford; DVD players go on sale; the dot-com boom accelerates
Notable Tech Releases
What launched that year
Nintendo 64 launches in Japan (June) and North America (September) with Super Mario 64
DVD players and discs go on sale in Japan, launching a new era of home video
Sergey Brin and Larry Page begin collaborating on the BackRub search engine that will become Google
Palm Pilot PDA released, pioneering the personal digital assistant market
Social Media Timeline
How old were you when these launched?
The Universe
Worlds discovered beyond our solar system
confirmed exoplanets
confirmed and counting
We've gone from 17 to 5,800. Most of these worlds were found by a single space telescope called Kepler.
Act V
Your Place in Time
🇺🇸 United States
Your country the year you arrived
Population
265M
people in United States
GDP per Capita
$30k
per person per year
Your Birth Cohort
137M
babies born worldwide that year
Your birth year is closer to Nelson Mandela becoming South Africa's president than to today.
Notable Births
Born the same year as you
Zendaya·Lorde·Hailee Steinfeld·Sophie Turner·Bella Hadid
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
32,768 times more powerfulComputing power has roughly doubled every two years since you were born. That adds up to 32,768×.
15 doublings since 1996Milestone Years
Your milestone birthdays
You turn 40 in 2036 · You turn 65 in 2061 · You turn 100 in 2096
Language
Words that didn't exist when you were born
Still Alive
Jonathan the tortoise was already 164 years old
a Seychelles giant tortoise living on Saint Helena island. He was already 164 years old the year you were born. He's still alive today at 194.
You arrived in a world of 5.8 billion people. Bill Clinton was in the White House. Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix) by Los Del Rio was on the radio. You came of age as the internet rewired everything - and you were young enough to adapt.
In 1996, 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