Act I
The World Stage
World Population
How many people shared the planet
people on Earth when you were born
2.0 billion more people have arrived since
You were born into a world approaching 7 billion. Population growth has begun to slow.
1 in 63 people alive today was born in 2002.
World Leaders
Who was in charge
United States President
George W. Bush
President
UK Prime Minister
Tony Blair
Prime Minister
UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan
United Nations
World Events
Defining moments of 2002
Bali bombings kill 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, in the deadliest terrorist attack in Indonesian history
Washington DC sniper attacks leave 10 dead over three weeks, paralyzing the US capital region with fear
US presents case at UN that Iraq possesses WMDs, setting stage for military conflict and global debate
FIFA World Cup held in South Korea and Japan - Brazil wins their fifth title, defeating Germany 2-0 in the final
Department of Homeland Security established in the US as the largest government reorganization since 1947, post-9/11
Baby Names
Most popular names in 2002 (US)
Boys
Jacob, Michael, Joshua
Girls
Emily, Madison, Hannah
Atmosphere
CO₂ in the air you first breathed
CO₂ concentration (Keeling Curve)
+49.2 ppm since your birth
CO₂ has climbed 13% since 2002. It's one of the few numbers that only goes up.
Act II
What Things Cost
Average Annual Salary
What workers took home
$42.4k US median household incomeAdjusted for inflation, that's worth about $74k in today's dollars.
Today: $80kPurchasing Power
Are we actually better off today?
What $42k in 2002 is worth right now
8% 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 2002
life expectancy at birth in 2002
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 4.4x the average annual salary
Median home now costs 5.3x the average annual salary
Housing has gotten 1.2x 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
How You Remind Me
Nickelback
Oscar Best Picture
A Beautiful Mind
Directed by Ron Howard
Grammy Album of the Year
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (soundtrack)
Various Artists
TV Premieres
Shows born the same year as you
Sports
Champions of the year
World Series
Anaheim Angels
Baseball
FIFA World Cup
Brazil
Football
F1 Champion
Michael Schumacher
Formula One
Super Bowl
New England Patriots
20-17 vs St. Louis Rams
Screen & Page
What everyone was watching and reading
Most-Watched Show
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Television
Fiction Bestseller
The Summons
John Grisham
Box Office #1
Spider-Man
Film
Act IV
The State of Technology
Technology Milestone
Where technology stood
Friendster launches as one of the first social networks; camera phones begin mass adoption; Wi-Fi hotspots proliferate
Notable Tech Releases
What launched that year
Windows XP Service Pack 1 released with improved security features
Friendster launches, pioneering the social networking concept
Camera phones go mainstream in Asia and Europe
Mozilla 1.0 (precursor to Firefox) released as open-source browser
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 134 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
288M
people in United States
GDP per Capita
$36k
per person per year
Your Birth Cohort
131M
babies born worldwide that year
Your birth year is closer to 9/11 than to today.
Notable Births
Born the same year as you
Finn Wolfhard·Gaten Matarazzo·Skai Jackson·Sadie Sink·Jenna Ortega
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
4,096 times more powerfulComputing power has roughly doubled every two years since you were born. That adds up to 4,096×.
12 doublings since 2002Milestone Years
Your milestone birthdays
You turn 40 in 2042 · You turn 65 in 2067 · You turn 100 in 2102
Language
Words that didn't exist when you were born
Still Alive
Jonathan the tortoise was already 170 years old
a Seychelles giant tortoise living on Saint Helena island. He was already 170 years old the year you were born. He's still alive today at 194.
You arrived in a world of 6.2 billion people. George W. Bush was in the White House. How You Remind Me by Nickelback was on the radio. You've never known a world without Google. The smartphone arrived in your childhood.
In 2002, recording your voice meant GarageBand or a cheap USB mic.
Today, you can clone your own voice with a few minutes of audio.
Hear what that sounds like →keep exploring