The machine knows up to 107 things about you that you should know.

Print my card Admit one · $9.95 + tax Take the quiz

Born In · 1970 to 1979

Born in the 1970s? You were one of the few.

What was it like to be born in the 1970s?

Being born in the 1970s meant arriving in the "birth dearth": US births fell to 3.1 million in 1973, the lowest of the decade. Every 1970s baby is Gen X to Pew, with Xennials at the end. The decade brought the oil shocks, double-digit inflation, Watergate and the end of the Vietnam War.

What it was like to arrive

You were born into a small generation. US births fell from 3.7 million in 1970 to 3.1 million in 1973, and the general fertility rate bottomed out in 1976. That is the main reason Gen X is smaller than the Boomers and Millennials either side of it. 1,2

You were born into the Great Inflation. The October 1973 oil embargo quadrupled crude prices, the 1979 Iranian revolution tripled them again, and by 1980 inflation passed 14 percent. Prices on the shelf were changing through your childhood. 3

You were born as trust in government took a hit. Nixon resigned on 9 August 1974 after Watergate, and the Vietnam War ended with the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. 4,5

And you were born into a changing family. 1970s babies are the latchkey generation, raised in an era of high divorce rates and working parents. 6

The generations born this decade

Which label you get depends on the year, and on who is counting.

Gen X. Every year of the decade, by Pew's lines (1965–1980) and Strauss and Howe's (1961–1981). 7,8

Xennials. Born about 1977 to 1979: the first Xennials, with an offline childhood and an online young adulthood. 9

The decade, year by year

The headlines, the inventions and the money, with sources.

  1. Peace1973The Vietnam peace agreement was signed on 27 January 1973. 5
  2. Births1973Births fell to 3,136,965, the lowest of the decade. 1
  3. Oil1973–1975The Arab oil embargo began in October 1973 and lasted about five months; crude prices quadrupled. A recession ran from November 1973 to March 1975. 3,10
  4. Watergate1972–1974The break-in at the Watergate was on the night of 17 June 1972. President Nixon resigned on 9 August 1974. 4
  5. Saigon1975North Vietnamese tanks entered the Presidential Palace in Saigon on 30 April 1975, effectively ending the war. 58,220 American military personnel had died. 5,11
  6. Oil again1979The Iranian revolution tripled the price of oil. Paul Volcker became Federal Reserve chairman in August 1979. 3

The decade's sky: ten Lunar New Years

The Chinese zodiac year starts at the Lunar New Year, not January 1, so early-year birthdays belong to the year before. Dates worked out by the machine.

  1. 1970

    Year of the Dog (Metal) from February 6, 1970. Birthdays from January 1 to the day before belong to the Rooster (Earth).

    Generation: Gen X

    Then vs now for 1970: coming soon.

  2. 1971

    Year of the Pig (Metal) from January 27, 1971. Birthdays from January 1 to the day before belong to the Dog (Metal).

    Generation: Gen X

    Then vs now for 1971: coming soon.

  3. 1972

    Year of the Rat (Water) from February 15, 1972. Birthdays from January 1 to the day before belong to the Pig (Metal).

    Generation: Gen X

    Then vs now for 1972: coming soon.

  4. 1973

    Year of the Ox (Water) from February 3, 1973. Birthdays from January 1 to the day before belong to the Rat (Water).

    Generation: Gen X

    Then vs now for 1973: coming soon.

  5. 1974

    Year of the Tiger (Wood) from January 23, 1974. Birthdays from January 1 to the day before belong to the Ox (Water).

    Generation: Gen X

    Then vs now for 1974: coming soon.

  6. 1975

    Year of the Rabbit (Wood) from February 11, 1975. Birthdays from January 1 to the day before belong to the Tiger (Wood).

    Generation: Gen X

    Then vs now for 1975: coming soon.

  7. 1976

    Year of the Dragon (Fire) from January 31, 1976. Birthdays from January 1 to the day before belong to the Rabbit (Wood).

    Generation: Gen X

    Then vs now for 1976: coming soon.

  8. 1977

    Year of the Snake (Fire) from February 18, 1977. Birthdays from January 1 to the day before belong to the Dragon (Fire).

    Generation: Gen X · Xennials

    Then vs now for 1977: coming soon.

  9. 1978

    Year of the Horse (Earth) from February 7, 1978. Birthdays from January 1 to the day before belong to the Snake (Fire).

    Generation: Gen X · Xennials

    Then vs now for 1978: coming soon.

  10. 1979

    Year of the Goat (Earth) from January 28, 1979. Birthdays from January 1 to the day before belong to the Horse (Earth).

    Generation: Gen X · Xennials

    Then vs now for 1979: coming soon.

The slow planets

The outer planets move so slowly that everyone born within a few years shares their signs, which is why astrologers read them as a generational layer. Which signs they were in on your birthday, and what that is said to mean, is worked out on your card and sealed there.

Questions people ask

What generation is someone born in the 1970s?

Gen X, by every common definition. Born from about 1977 on, you also fit the micro-generation label Xennial.

Why were fewer babies born in the 1970s?

Births fell from the boom years as the pill spread, families got smaller and the economy soured. US births bottomed out at about 3.1 million in 1973.

What happened in the 1970s?

The Vietnam War ended, Nixon resigned after Watergate, two oil shocks hit, and inflation climbed toward 14 percent by 1980.

Millions were born in the 1970s. Your card was written for one.

A decade gives you the headlines. Your card is worked out from your own birthday, minute and place: the sky that night, your numbers and your Chinese year, read together. Sealed until you print it.

What your card covers

Worked out from the day, the minute and the place you were born. Sealed until you print it.

See all six pages, sealedFold the pages back
  1. Page 1 of 6, Who you are, with every line sealed. Sections: Your sign, Your Moon, Your rising sign, Your number, Your strongest traits, Your gifts, Your challenges, Chinese year · stone · flower, Your angel number.1 Who you are
  2. Page 2 of 6, The machine says, with every line sealed. Sections: The machine's reading, The lesson that keeps finding you, Your turning points, The old rhyme, Your days.2 The machine says
  3. Page 3 of 6, Your sky, with every line sealed. Sections: Your placements, Your aspects, The sky the day you arrived.3 Your sky
  4. Page 4 of 6, Love & your people, with every line sealed. Sections: Your love chart, Your love matches, The people in your life.4 Love & your people
  5. Page 5 of 6, Work & money, with every line sealed. Sections: Your work, Your money, Work this year, Money this year.5 Work & money
  6. Page 6 of 6, Your year ahead, with every line sealed. Sections: Your year ahead, Love this year, Month by month, Your lucky charms.6 Your year ahead

Who you are

  • Your sun sign, its decan and any cusp (sealed)
  • Your strongest traits (sealed)
  • Your gifts (sealed)
  • Your challenges (sealed)
  • The lesson that keeps finding you (sealed)
  • The machine's reading (sealed)
  • Your headline (sealed)

Your birth chart

  • Your birth chart wheel (sealed)
  • Your placements: Sun, Moon and planets by sign (sealed)
  • Your Moon with a birth time (sealed)
  • Your rising sign with a birth time and place (sealed)
  • Your Ascendant, Midheaven and houses with a birth time and place (sealed)
  • Your aspects (sealed)

Your love chart

  • Your love chart (sealed)
  • Your Descendant: who you're drawn to with a birth time and place (sealed)
  • Your love matches (sealed)
  • Love this year (sealed)

Your people

  • The people in your life (sealed)

Your work

  • Your work (sealed)
  • Work this year (sealed)

Your money

  • Your money (sealed)
  • Money this year (sealed)

Your numbers

  • Your number (sealed)
  • Your angel number (sealed)

Your year ahead

  • Your year ahead (sealed)
  • Month by month (sealed)
  • Your lucky charms (sealed)

Your sky and your years

  • The sky the day you arrived (sealed)
  • Your days (sealed)
  • The old rhyme for your weekday (sealed)
  • Your Chinese year, birthstone and flower (sealed)
  • Your turning points (sealed)
  • The machine log: every step it took (sealed)
Print my card$9.95 + tax Gift a ticketthey enter their own birthday

Sources

  1. NCHS – Births and General Fertility Rates: United States, 1909–2018, CDC, NCHS (data.gov dataset). Read on .
  2. Generation X: America's neglected 'middle child', Pew Research Center, Paul Taylor and George Gao, 5 June 2014. Read on .
  3. The Great Inflation, 1965–1982, Federal Reserve History, Michael Bryan. Read on .
  4. Nixon and Watergate (American Originals), U.S. National Archives. Read on .
  5. Ending the Vietnam War, 1969–1973, U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian. Read on .
  6. How Gen X Parents Raised Gen Z Kids: Different Than Millennials, Financial Advisor magazine (Bloomberg reporting), Matthew Boyle, 29 July 2019. Read on .
  7. Defining generations: Where Millennials end and Generation Z begins, Pew Research Center, Michael Dimock, 17 January 2019. Read on .
  8. Strauss-Howe Generational Theory, Critical Dictionary of Apocalyptic and Millenarian Movements, Amanda van Eck Duymaer van Twist and Suzanne Newcombe (Inform), 2017, updated 15 January 2021. Read on .
  9. From Boomers to Xennials: we love talking about our generations, but must recognise their limits, Dan Woodman, University of Melbourne (first published in The Conversation), 12 July 2017. Read on .
  10. US Business Cycle Expansions and Contractions, National Bureau of Economic Research. Read on .
  11. Vietnam War U.S. Military Fatal Casualty Statistics, U.S. National Archives. Read on .

For entertainment and self-reflection. Astrology and numerology are traditions, not science.

Spotted something wrong, out of date or missing? The corrections page says how we fix it.

Print my card Take the quiz