🇳🇬 Jabari
Nigeria · boy
- Life expectancy
- 54 years
- Family income per person
- $20 a day
- Babies who die before age 1
- 7%
- Children in primary school
- 64%
- Young people in university
- 10%
A life simulator built on real statistics: 1 in 8 Billion
You are born as one random baby somewhere in the world, and you live that life to its end.
You don't choose where, or to whom, you are born. The odds come from real statistics. Your choices still change the life.
Live
0 babies have been born since you opened this page.
Just born:
One life, a minute long
A life simulated with the game’s own engine, from the first day to the last. In the game it takes as long as you choose, 10 to 90 minutes.
🇮🇳 Nadia · IndiaAge 0 · Born
- countries
- 178
- years: past, today, future
- 1960–2050
- languages
- 8
- life moments, drawn in pixels
- 12
Born in the same second
Two babies, the same moment, two countries. Nothing about them is different yet, except where they were born.
🇮🇩 Linh
Indonesia · girl
- Life expectancy
- 73 years
- Family income per person
- $25 a day
- Babies who die before age 1
- 1.5%
- Children in primary school
- 94%
- Young people in university
- 45%
If you were a baby born right now
Your chance of being born in each country, by babies born each year.
- India1 in 617.4%
- China1 in 147.1%
- Nigeria1 in 175.8%
- Pakistan1 in 195.2%
- Congo, Dem. Rep.1 in 293.4%
- Indonesia1 in 303.4%
- Ethiopia1 in 313.2%
- United States1 in 372.7%
Data: World Bank World Development Indicators (2026-10-18). Missing values are estimated from regional medians.
Moments along the way
When something big happens, the street gives way to the moment: a first classroom, a wedding, a hospital bed, a park bench.
School
Graduation
Work
Wedding
A child
Illness
Moving away
Together
Retirement
Inside every life
Real data
Life expectancy, income, schooling and conflict from the World Bank, the UN, Our World in Data, PRIO and UCDP.
Choices with numbers
Study or work, stay or leave, marry or not. Many choices show the real numbers behind them.
A family tree
Grandparents, parents, partners, children and grandchildren, each with a name.
An album in pixels
Every year leaves a picture. The best of them become the album of the life.
Born in the same second
Four other babies start life with you, somewhere else. See where their lives go.
8 languages
Money is shown in your language’s currency at local prices, not exchange rates.
Memorials
Lives someone chose to keep. Light a candle, leave a word.
Keep a life in your pocket
The app runs the same lives, memorials and languages, and keeps the life going wherever you are. Android first, iPhone soon after.
- Coming soon onGoogle Play
- Coming soon onApp Store
Nadia
Questions
What is 1 in 8 Billion?
A free life-simulation game. You are born as one random baby, drawn from the real share of births in 178 countries, and you live that life year by year to its end, with choices along the way and others born the same second beside you.
Is it free? Do I need an account?
It is free and needs no sign-up. Your lives are saved in your browser or on your phone; nothing about you is sent anywhere unless you place a life in the memorials.
Where do the numbers come from?
From the World Bank, the United Nations, Our World in Data, the World Happiness Report, and UCDP and PRIO for armed conflict: birth rates, life expectancy, child mortality, income and inequality, schooling and more for 178 countries, from 1960 to the UN projections for 2050.
How long does one life take?
You choose: 10, 30, 60 or 90 minutes for a whole life. You can pause at any time and come back later; the life waits for you in the same browser.
Can I play on my phone?
Yes, in your phone’s browser. An Android app is coming to Google Play, and an iPhone app after it.
Is it suitable for children and classrooms?
Lives meet illness, loss and violence at their real rates, told in one plain sentence with no graphic scenes. It is meant for ages 13 and up; classroom mode holds back the heaviest themes.
Can I keep a life I lived?
When a life ends you can place it in the memorials, anonymously, with its pixel album and a few words. Others can light a candle for it, and you can share its link.