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Born In · 1980 to 1989

Born in the 1980s? You came just before the internet did.

What was it like to be born in the 1980s?

Being born in the 1980s meant arriving in the "echo" of the baby boom, as Boomers had children and births climbed back above 4 million in 1989. Babies from 1981 are Millennials to Pew; 1980 is the last Gen X year. Home computers arrived, and the Berlin Wall fell in 1989.

What it was like to arrive

Births were climbing again. From 3.6 million in 1980 they rose through the decade to 4.04 million in 1989, the first year over 4 million since 1964, as Boomers became parents. 1

The economy was rough at the start. The 1981–82 recession pushed unemployment close to 11 percent, and the Great Inflation finally ended in 1982. 2

Computers came home. IBM's PC appeared in August 1981; by 1984, 8.2 percent of households had a computer. An 1980s baby was the first to meet a home computer as a small child. 3,4

And the Cold War was ending. The Berlin Wall came down on the evening of 9 November 1989. 5

The generations born this decade

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

Gen X. Born 1980, in Pew's lines; Strauss and Howe extend Gen X to 1981. 6,7

Xennials. Born about 1980 to 1983: the in-between micro-generation. 8

Millennials. Born 1981 to 1989, in Pew's lines. McCrindle starts Generation Y in 1980. 6,9

The decade, year by year

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

  1. Recession1980–1982Two recessions back to back: January to July 1980, and July 1981 to November 1982. 10
  2. Computers1981IBM unveiled its Personal Computer at New York's Waldorf Hotel on 12 August 1981, priced at $1,565. 3
  3. Home19848.2 percent of American households had a computer, and the Commodore 64 was the year's most popular model. 4
  4. The web1989In March 1989 Tim Berners-Lee wrote the proposal at CERN that became the World Wide Web. 11
  5. The wall1989The Berlin Wall came down on 9 November 1989. 5

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. 1980

    Year of the Monkey (Metal) from February 16, 1980. Birthdays from January 1 to the day before belong to the Goat (Earth).

    Generation: Gen X · Xennials

    Then vs now for 1980: coming soon.

  2. 1981

    Year of the Rooster (Metal) from February 5, 1981. Birthdays from January 1 to the day before belong to the Monkey (Metal).

    Generation: Xennials · Millennials

    Then vs now for 1981: coming soon.

  3. 1982

    Year of the Dog (Water) from January 25, 1982. Birthdays from January 1 to the day before belong to the Rooster (Metal).

    Generation: Xennials · Millennials

    Then vs now for 1982: coming soon.

  4. 1983

    Year of the Pig (Water) from February 13, 1983. Birthdays from January 1 to the day before belong to the Dog (Water).

    Generation: Xennials · Millennials

    Then vs now for 1983: coming soon.

  5. 1984

    Year of the Rat (Wood) from February 2, 1984. Birthdays from January 1 to the day before belong to the Pig (Water).

    Generation: Millennials

    Then vs now for 1984: coming soon.

  6. 1985

    Year of the Ox (Wood) from February 20, 1985. Birthdays from January 1 to the day before belong to the Rat (Wood).

    Generation: Millennials

    Then vs now for 1985: coming soon.

  7. 1986

    Year of the Tiger (Fire) from February 9, 1986. Birthdays from January 1 to the day before belong to the Ox (Wood).

    Generation: Millennials

    Then vs now for 1986: coming soon.

  8. 1987

    Year of the Rabbit (Fire) from January 29, 1987. Birthdays from January 1 to the day before belong to the Tiger (Fire).

    Generation: Millennials

    Then vs now for 1987: coming soon.

  9. 1988

    Year of the Dragon (Earth) from February 17, 1988. Birthdays from January 1 to the day before belong to the Rabbit (Fire).

    Generation: Millennials

    Then vs now for 1988: coming soon.

  10. 1989

    Year of the Snake (Earth) from February 6, 1989. Birthdays from January 1 to the day before belong to the Dragon (Earth).

    Generation: Millennials

    Then vs now for 1989: 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

Is someone born in 1980 Gen X or a Millennial?

Gen X, by Pew, which ends Gen X in 1980; Strauss and Howe agree. McCrindle starts Generation Y in 1980. Born around then, you are also a Xennial.

What generation is someone born in 1985?

A Millennial, by every common definition: Pew uses 1981 to 1996, Strauss and Howe 1982 to 2004, McCrindle 1980 to 1994.

What happened in the 1980s?

A deep recession early on, the end of the Great Inflation, the IBM PC and home computers, and the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989.

Millions were born in the 1980s. 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. The Great Inflation, 1965–1982, Federal Reserve History, Michael Bryan. Read on .
  3. The IBM PC, IBM. Read on .
  4. Measuring America: Computer & Internet Trends in America, U.S. Census Bureau, January 2014. Read on .
  5. The Rise and Fall of the Berlin Wall, Library of Congress, 4 Corners of the World blog, November 2019. Read on .
  6. Defining generations: Where Millennials end and Generation Z begins, Pew Research Center, Michael Dimock, 17 January 2019. Read on .
  7. 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 .
  8. Xennial, Dictionary.com. Read on .
  9. Generation Alpha defined, McCrindle Research, Mark McCrindle. Read on .
  10. US Business Cycle Expansions and Contractions, National Bureau of Economic Research. Read on .
  11. A short history of the Web, CERN. 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.

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