Born in the 1970s

The world they were born into

The 1970s were marked by the oil crisis of 1973, which quadrupled the price of oil and ended the long post-war boom, and by high inflation across much of the world. The Vietnam War ended in 1975. On 16 June 1976 schoolchildren in Soweto marched against being taught in Afrikaans, and the uprising that followed changed the course of South African history.

Growing up

South Africa's first national television service began in January 1976, when the decade's oldest children there were five or six. Home computers appeared at the end of the decade, with the Apple II in 1977, and the Sony Walkman went on sale in 1979; Star Wars opened in 1977. Children of the 1970s grew up with the first home video games, and were between eleven and twenty-one when the World Wide Web was opened to the public in 1991.

Which generation

Everyone born in the 1970s belongs to Generation X. The boundaries are conventions rather than facts, and the generations page names the source for each one.

The marked line is 1970, where the decade begins.

Year by year

The Chinese year begins not on 1 January but at a new moon, usually the second after the December solstice, and from 1900 to 2100 always between 21 January and 20 February. In the 1970s it began as early as 23 January, in 1974, and as late as 18 February, in 1977, so a birthday in January or early February belongs to the animal of the year before. The table gives the day each year began.

New year dates are worked out from the new moons and the solar terms, and checked against published tables. Born before the new year →

Read on

• Generation X
• How generations are defined
• The 1960s
• The 1980s
• Every year