Act I
The World Stage
World Population
How many people shared the planet
people on Earth when you were born
1.8 billion more people have arrived since
You were born into a world approaching 7 billion. Population growth has begun to slow.
1 in 62 people alive today was born in 2004.
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 2004
Indian Ocean tsunami triggered by a 9.1-magnitude earthquake kills 227,898 people across 14 countries - one of the deadliest natural disasters in history
Madrid train bombings kill 191 people and wound 2,050, the deadliest terrorist attack in European history since Lockerbie
Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse photos published, causing global outrage and damaging US credibility in the Iraq War
George W. Bush re-elected US president, defeating John Kerry in a campaign dominated by the Iraq War and national security
European Union expands by 10 countries on May 1, the largest single expansion in EU history, including former communist states
Baby Names
Most popular names in 2004 (US)
Boys
Jacob, Joshua, Ethan
Girls
Emily, Emma, Madison
Atmosphere
CO₂ in the air you first breathed
CO₂ concentration (Keeling Curve)
+45.0 ppm since your birth
CO₂ has climbed 12% since 2004. It's one of the few numbers that only goes up.
Act II
What Things Cost
Average Annual Salary
What workers took home
$44.3k 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 $44k in 2004 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 2004
life expectancy at birth in 2004
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 5.0x the average annual salary
Median home now costs 5.3x the average annual salary
Housing has gotten 1.1x 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
Yeah!
Usher featuring Lil Jon & Ludacris
Oscar Best Picture
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Directed by Peter Jackson
Grammy Album of the Year
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
OutKast
TV Premieres
Shows born the same year as you
Sports
Champions of the year
World Series
Boston Red Sox
Baseball
F1 Champion
Michael Schumacher
Formula One
Super Bowl
New England Patriots
32-29 vs Carolina Panthers
NBA Champion
Detroit Pistons
Basketball
Screen & Page
What everyone was watching and reading
Most-Watched Show
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Television
Fiction Bestseller
The Da Vinci Code
Dan Brown
Box Office #1
Shrek 2
Film
Act IV
The State of Technology
Technology Milestone
Where technology stood
Facebook launches from Harvard dorm room in February; Gmail launches in April; Mozilla Firefox 1.0 debuts as serious IE challenger
Notable Tech Releases
What launched that year
Facebook launches February 4 from Mark Zuckerberg's Harvard dorm room
Mozilla Firefox 1.0 released in November, breaking Internet Explorer's dominance
Gmail launches in April with 1 GB of free storage - revolutionary at the time
World of Warcraft launches in November, becoming the largest MMORPG ever
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 156 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
293M
people in United States
GDP per Capita
$40k
per person per year
Your Birth Cohort
133M
babies born worldwide that year
Your birth year is closer to the Indian Ocean tsunami than to today.
Notable Births
Born the same year as you
Coco Gauff·Millie Bobby Brown·Noah Schnapp·Charli D'Amelio·Gavi
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
2,048 times more powerfulComputing power has roughly doubled every two years since you were born. That adds up to 2,048×.
11 doublings since 2004Milestone Years
Your milestone birthdays
You turn 40 in 2044 · You turn 65 in 2069 · You turn 100 in 2104
Language
Words that didn't exist when you were born
Still Alive
Jonathan the tortoise was already 172 years old
a Seychelles giant tortoise living on Saint Helena island. He was already 172 years old the year you were born. He's still alive today at 194.
You arrived in a world of 6.4 billion people. George W. Bush was in the White House. Yeah! by Usher featuring Lil Jon & Ludacris was on the radio. You've never known a world without Google. The smartphone arrived in your childhood.
In 2004, 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