Act I
The World Stage
World Population
How many people shared the planet
people on Earth when you were born
1.4 billion more people have arrived since
You were born into a world approaching 7 billion. Population growth has begun to slow.
1 in 59 people alive today was born in 2010.
World Leaders
Who was in charge
United States President
Barack Obama
President
UK Prime Minister
David Cameron
Prime Minister
UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon
United Nations
World Events
Defining moments of 2010
Haiti earthquake kills over 160,000 people and devastates Port-au-Prince on January 12, triggering the largest humanitarian response in history
Deepwater Horizon oil rig explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers and causing the largest marine oil spill in US history over 87 days
FIFA World Cup in South Africa ends with Spain winning its first-ever title, defeating Netherlands 1-0 in extra time in Johannesburg
WikiLeaks begins publishing 250,000 classified US diplomatic cables, causing an international diplomatic crisis
Pakistani floods affect 20 million people in the worst flooding in the country's history, submerging one-fifth of the country
Baby Names
Most popular names in 2010 (US)
Boys
Jacob, Ethan, Michael
Girls
Isabella, Sophia, Emma
Atmosphere
CO₂ in the air you first breathed
CO₂ concentration (Keeling Curve)
+32.6 ppm since your birth
CO₂ has climbed 8% since 2010. It's one of the few numbers that only goes up.
Act II
What Things Cost
Average Annual Salary
What workers took home
$49.4k 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 $49k in 2010 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 2010
life expectancy at birth in 2010
A 31.7-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 4.5x 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
TiK ToK
Kesha
Oscar Best Picture
The Hurt Locker
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow
Grammy Album of the Year
Fearless
Taylor Swift
TV Premieres
Shows born the same year as you
Sports
Champions of the year
World Series
San Francisco Giants
Baseball
FIFA World Cup
Spain
Football
F1 Champion
Sebastian Vettel
Formula One
Super Bowl
New Orleans Saints
31-17 vs Indianapolis Colts
Screen & Page
What everyone was watching and reading
Most-Watched Show
American Idol
Television
Fiction Bestseller
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Stieg Larsson
Box Office #1
Toy Story 3
Film
Act IV
The State of Technology
Technology Milestone
Where technology stood
iPad launches in April; Instagram launches in October; 2 billion internet users reached; the app economy fully arrives
Notable Tech Releases
What launched that year
Apple iPad launches April 3 - sells 3 million in 80 days, creating the tablet category
Instagram launches October 6 on iOS, gaining 1 million users in 3 months
Pinterest founded in March as a visual bookmarking platform
Windows Phone 7 launches as Microsoft's reimagined mobile platform
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 519 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
309M
people in United States
GDP per Capita
$48k
per person per year
Your Birth Cohort
139M
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
Ryan Kiera Armstrong·Jude Hill·Frankie Corio
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
256 times more powerfulComputing power has roughly doubled every two years since you were born. That adds up to 256×.
8 doublings since 2010Milestone Years
Your milestone birthdays
You turn 18 in 2028 · You turn 40 in 2050 · You turn 65 in 2075 · You turn 100 in 2110
Still Alive
Jonathan the tortoise was already 178 years old
a Seychelles giant tortoise living on Saint Helena island. He was already 178 years old the year you were born. He's still alive today at 194.
You arrived in a world of 6.8 billion people. Barack Obama was in the White House. TiK ToK by Kesha was on the radio. You've never known a world without smartphones. The internet was already old when you arrived, but you're the first generation raised inside it.
In 2010, sharing your voice meant voice notes and YouTube vlogs.
Today, you can clone your own voice with a few minutes of audio.
Hear what that sounds like →keep exploring