Home / Birth years / 1979

Born in 1979? Here's what you're older than.

If you were born in 1979, you turn 47 in 2026, and you're Gen X. You're older than 201 things on our timeline, including Pac-Man, MTV and the compact disc.

You're older than…

Everything on this list came out, opened or happened after 1979 ended.

• Pac-Man 46 years old '80 5 22
• MTV 45 years old '81 8 1
• The CD 43 years old '82 10 1
• Tetris 42 years old '84 6 6
• Back to the Future 41 years old '85 7 3
• Super Mario Bros. 41 years old '85 9 13
• The NES 40 years old '85 10 18
• The Game Boy 37 years old '89 4 21
• The Simpsons 36 years old '89 12 17
• Home Alone 35 years old '90 11 16
• The World Wide Web 35 years old '91 8 6
• The first text message 33 years ago '92 12 3
• Beanie Babies about 33 years old '93
• Jurassic Park 33 years old '93 6 11
• Hocus Pocus 33 years old '93 7 16
• The Lion King 32 years old '94 6 15
• Friends 32 years old '94 9 22
• The PlayStation 31 years old '94 12 3
• Amazon 31 years old '95 7 16
• Windows 95 31 years old '95 8 24
• Toy Story 30 years old '95 11 22
• Pokémon 30 years old '96 2 27
• The Tamagotchi 29 years old '96 11 23
• Wi-Fi about 29 years old '97

See all 201 on the timeline

You were born closer to these than to today

• The Golden Gate Bridge's opening (1937) details
• The invention of the chocolate chip cookie (1938) details
• The end of World War II (1945) details

Same age as you

These also arrived in 1979.

• The Sony Walkman 47 years old '79 7 1
• The Happy Meal 47 years old '79 6
• ESPN 47 years old '79 9 7
• The NBA three-point line 46 years old '79 10 12

1979 by the numbers

• The world had about 4.4 billion people in 1979. Today it's about 8.3 billion.
• People born in 1979 are older than about 71% of everyone alive.
• 1979 is roughly halfway between 1932 and today.
• If you were born in 1979, you've been alive for roughly 17,071 to 17,435 days.