Act I
The World Stage
World Population
How many people shared the planet
people on Earth when you were born
1.5 billion more people have arrived since
You were born into a world approaching 7 billion. Population growth has begun to slow.
1 in 60 people alive today was born in 2008.
World Leaders
Who was in charge
United States President
George W. Bush
President
UK Prime Minister
Gordon Brown
Prime Minister
UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon
United Nations
World Events
Defining moments of 2008
Global financial crisis erupts as Lehman Brothers collapses on September 15 - the largest bankruptcy in US history - triggering a worldwide recession
Barack Obama elected as the 44th President of the United States, becoming the first African American president in US history
Beijing Summer Olympics open with a spectacular ceremony; Michael Phelps wins 8 gold medals, Usain Bolt sets 100m and 200m world records
Mumbai terrorist attacks kill 166 people across the city over four days, executed by Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba
Russia invades Georgia in a brief war over the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, reshaping Eastern European security
Baby Names
Most popular names in 2008 (US)
Boys
Jacob, Michael, Ethan
Girls
Emma, Isabella, Emily
Atmosphere
CO₂ in the air you first breathed
CO₂ concentration (Keeling Curve)
+36.9 ppm since your birth
CO₂ has climbed 10% since 2008. It's one of the few numbers that only goes up.
Act II
What Things Cost
Average Annual Salary
What workers took home
$50.3k US median household incomeAdjusted for inflation, that's worth about $73k in today's dollars.
Today: $80kPurchasing Power
Are we actually better off today?
What $50k in 2008 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 2008
life expectancy at birth in 2008
A 32.2-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 4.6x 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
Low
Flo Rida featuring T-Pain
Oscar Best Picture
No Country for Old Men
Directed by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Grammy Album of the Year
River: The Joni Letters
Herbie Hancock
TV Premieres
Shows born the same year as you
Sports
Champions of the year
World Series
Philadelphia Phillies
Baseball
F1 Champion
Lewis Hamilton
Formula One
Super Bowl
New York Giants
17-14 vs New England Patriots
NBA Champion
Boston Celtics
Basketball
Screen & Page
What everyone was watching and reading
Most-Watched Show
American Idol
Television
Fiction Bestseller
Twilight
Stephenie Meyer
Box Office #1
The Dark Knight
Film
Act IV
The State of Technology
Technology Milestone
Where technology stood
Apple App Store launches with iPhone OS 2.0, creating the modern app economy; Android phones ship for the first time
Notable Tech Releases
What launched that year
Apple App Store launches July 10 with 500 apps, reaching 10 million downloads in 3 days
First Android phone (T-Mobile G1/HTC Dream) ships in October
MacBook Air unveiled January 15 as the world's thinnest laptop
Spotify launches in October in select European countries
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 292 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
304M
people in United States
GDP per Capita
$48k
per person per year
Your Birth Cohort
137M
babies born worldwide that year
Your birth year is closer to the launch of the iPhone than to today.
Notable Births
Born the same year as you
Iain Armitage·Chloe Coleman·Madeleine McGraw
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
512 times more powerfulComputing power has roughly doubled every two years since you were born. That adds up to 512×.
9 doublings since 2008Milestone Years
Your milestone birthdays
You turn 18 in 2026 · You turn 40 in 2048 · You turn 65 in 2073 · You turn 100 in 2108
Still Alive
Jonathan the tortoise was already 176 years old
a Seychelles giant tortoise living on Saint Helena island. He was already 176 years old the year you were born. He's still alive today at 194.
You arrived in a world of 6.7 billion people. George W. Bush was in the White House. Low by Flo Rida featuring T-Pain was on the radio. You've never known a world without Google. The smartphone arrived in your childhood.
In 2008, 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