How old am I if I was born in 1978?
If you were born in 1978 you are 47 or 48 years old, depending on whether your birthday has already come round this year. Pick your exact date below for your age to the second — and for everything else 1978 says about you.
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Being born in 1978
Anyone born in 1978 turns 48 at some point during 2026. Until their birthday arrives they are still 47, which is why an age calculator that only knows the year can never give one answer. Enter the full date above and the number becomes exact, down to the second.
1978 makes you Gen X, and in the Chinese calendar it was the Year of the Horse.
What 1978 looked like
The Deer Hunter won Best Picture and Grease was the biggest film at the box office. In the news, 1978 was the year of the first test-tube baby is born.
The world in 1978
There were about 4.31 billion people alive, against roughly 8.25 billion today. Atmospheric CO₂ stood near 336 ppm, compared with about 427 ppm now. And money went further: $100 in 1978 bought roughly what $467 buys today.
Sport around 1978
The nearest Summer Olympics were held in Montreal in 1976. The closest World Cup was won by Argentina in 1978. Around then, the moment people still talk about was Nadia Comăneci scores the first perfect 10.
What else you can work out from a 1978 birthday
Once you enter the exact day, the cards above fill in: the phase of the moon on the night you were born, your star sign and birthstone, how many people share your birthday, which famous people were born on it, your age in dog years using the real 2019 formula rather than the old “multiply by seven” myth, how far you have travelled around the sun, and which historical event your birth date sits closer to than it does to today.