Born Then

Born Then is a free browser-based historical life simulator covering 1 CE to 2025. When you click "Roll a life," your birthplace and year are drawn in proportion to how many human beings were actually born in each region and century, meaning roughly two-thirds of random lives land before 1800. Five people born in the same place and year (one in each income quintile, with you as one of them) live out their lives year by year. Real demographic data (Gapminder life expectancy, child mortality, fertility and Gini inequality across 192 countries since 1800; HYDE 3.3 population estimates and Cliopatria historical polity borders before 1800) and 216 sourced historical events shape survival, migration, schooling, work and marriage, while major milestones produce period documents such as parish baptismal books, civil birth registers, ship tickets and death records, rendered in 55 local languages and scripts. You can also pick a place and year on an interactive globe. It is free, needs no account and nothing to install.