Act I
The World Stage
World Population
How many people shared the planet
people on Earth when you were born
2.3 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 61 people alive today was born in 1998.
World Leaders
Who was in charge
United States President
Bill Clinton
President
UK Prime Minister
Tony Blair
Prime Minister
UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan
United Nations
World Events
Defining moments of 1998
The Monica Lewinsky scandal breaks publicly, leading to Bill Clinton's impeachment later in the year
US Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania kill 224 people in Al-Qaeda attacks, signaling a new era of global terrorism
Russia's financial crisis causes the ruble to collapse, defaulting on $40 billion in domestic debt
US House of Representatives impeaches President Clinton on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice
India conducts nuclear tests (Pokhran-II), followed by Pakistan's nuclear tests, dramatically escalating South Asian tensions
Baby Names
Most popular names in 1998 (US)
Boys
Michael, Jacob, Matthew
Girls
Emily, Hannah, Samantha
Atmosphere
CO₂ in the air you first breathed
CO₂ concentration (Keeling Curve)
+55.8 ppm since your birth
CO₂ has climbed 15% since 1998. It's one of the few numbers that only goes up.
Act II
What Things Cost
Average Annual Salary
What workers took home
$38.9k US median household incomeAdjusted for inflation, that's worth about $75k in today's dollars.
Today: $80kPurchasing Power
Are we actually better off today?
What $39k in 1998 is worth right now
7% 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 1998
life expectancy at birth in 1998
A 34.4-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
Too Close
Next
Oscar Best Picture
Titanic
Directed by James Cameron
Grammy Album of the Year
Time Out of Mind
Bob Dylan
TV Premieres
Shows born the same year as you
Sports
Champions of the year
World Series
New York Yankees
Baseball
FIFA World Cup
France
Football
F1 Champion
Mika Hakkinen
Formula One
Super Bowl
Denver Broncos
31-24 vs Green Bay Packers
Screen & Page
What everyone was watching and reading
Most-Watched Show
ER
Television
Fiction Bestseller
The Street Lawyer
John Grisham
Box Office #1
Titanic
Film
Act IV
The State of Technology
Technology Milestone
Where technology stood
Google founded; iMac G3 launches in translucent colours; the dot-com bubble nears its peak
Notable Tech Releases
What launched that year
Google founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in a Menlo Park garage on September 4
Apple iMac G3 launches in Bondi Blue and other translucent colours, saving Apple from near-bankruptcy
Windows 98 released by Microsoft on June 25
MP3 players emerge commercially; Diamond Multimedia's Rio PMP300 launches and faces RIAA lawsuit
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 37 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
270M
people in United States
GDP per Capita
$33k
per person per year
Your Birth Cohort
135M
babies born worldwide that year
Your birth year is closer to 9/11 than to today.
Notable Births
Born the same year as you
Shawn Mendes·Jaden Smith·Odessa A'zion
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
16,384 times more powerfulComputing power has roughly doubled every two years since you were born. That adds up to 16,384×.
14 doublings since 1998Milestone Years
Your milestone birthdays
You turn 40 in 2038 · You turn 65 in 2063 · You turn 100 in 2098
Language
Words that didn't exist when you were born
Still Alive
Jonathan the tortoise was already 166 years old
a Seychelles giant tortoise living on Saint Helena island. He was already 166 years old the year you were born. He's still alive today at 194.
You arrived in a world of 5.9 billion people. Bill Clinton was in the White House. Too Close by Next was on the radio. You came of age as the internet rewired everything - and you were young enough to adapt.
In 1998, 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