/born

Born in 1976

People born in 1976 turn 50 in 2026. A dollar in 1976 buys what $5.92 buys in September 2026, and about 4.14 billion people were alive. Every figure below links to the source it came from.

Your birthday in 1976

1976

What things cost in 1976

U.S. average1976in today’s dollarslatest
One dollar$1.00$5.92CPI-U
Gallon of regular gasoline APU000074714$0.61$3.64$4.48
Median price of a new house sold MSPUS$44,225$261,845$410,700
Federal minimum wage STTMINWGFG$2.30$13.62$7.25

1976 figures are annual averages of the published monthly (or quarterly) values. “Today’s dollars” uses the Consumer Price Index for September 2026; “latest” is the most recent published price. Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Labor, via FRED.

Who was in charge in 1976

United States
Gerald Ford (President)
United Kingdom
Elizabeth II (Queen); Harold Wilson, then James Callaghan (Prime minister)
Soviet Union
Leonid Brezhnev (General Secretary); Nikolai Podgorny (Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet); Alexei Kosygin (Chairman of the Council of Ministers)
People's Republic of China
Mao Zedong, then Hua Guofeng (Chairman; Paramount Leader); Soong Ching-ling (Acting NPC Standing Committee Chairwoman); Zhu De (NPC Standing Committee Chairman); Zhou Enlai, then Hua Guofeng (Premier)
France
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (President); Jacques Chirac, then Raymond Barre (Prime minister)
East Germany
Willi Stoph, then Erich Honecker (Chairmen of the State Council); Horst Sindermann, then Willi Stoph (Chairman)
West Germany
Walter Scheel (President); Helmut Schmidt (Chancellor)
Japan
Hirohito (Emperor); Takeo Miki, then Takeo Fukuda (Prime minister)
Republic of India
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (President); Indira Gandhi (Prime minister)

From Wikipedia’s List of state leaders in the 20th century (1951–2000) (revision 1371751893), each name checked against Wikidata. Every country in 1976 →

No. 1 songs of 1976

  1. “Saturday Night” — Bay City Rollers (1 week)
  2. “Convoy” — C. W. McCall (1 week)
  3. “I Write the Songs” — Barry Manilow (1 week)
  4. “Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)” — Diana Ross (1 week)
  5. “Love Rollercoaster” — Ohio Players (1 week)
  6. “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” — Paul Simon (3 weeks)
  7. “Theme from S.W.A.T.” — Rhythm Heritage (1 week)
  8. “Love Machine (Part 1)” — The Miracles (1 week)
  9. “December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)” — The Four Seasons (3 weeks)
  10. “Disco Lady” — Johnnie Taylor (4 weeks)
  11. “Let Your Love Flow” — The Bellamy Brothers (1 week)
  12. “Welcome Back” — John Sebastian (1 week)
  13. “Boogie Fever” — The Sylvers (1 week)
  14. “Silly Love Songs” — Wings (5 weeks)
  15. “Love Hangover” — Diana Ross (2 weeks)
  16. “Afternoon Delight” — Starland Vocal Band (2 weeks)
  17. “Kiss and Say Goodbye” — The Manhattans (2 weeks)
  18. “Don't Go Breaking My Heart” — Elton John and Kiki Dee (4 weeks)
  19. “You Should Be Dancing” — Bee Gees (1 week)
  20. “(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty” — KC and the Sunshine Band (1 week)
  21. “Play That Funky Music” — Wild Cherry (3 weeks)
  22. “A Fifth of Beethoven” — Walter Murphy and the Big Apple Band (1 week)
  23. “Disco Duck” — Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots (1 week)
  24. “If You Leave Me Now” — Chicago (2 weeks)
  25. “Rock'n Me” — Steve Miller Band (1 week)
  26. “Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)” — Rod Stewart (7 weeks)

Weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with issue dates in 1976, from List of Billboard Hot 100 number ones of 1976 (Wikipedia revision 1379788180).

Famous people born in 1976

  • March 24 – Peyton Manning, American football player source
  • June 4 – Alexei Navalny, Russian lawyer and political activist (died 2024) source
  • October 6 – Barbie Hsu, Taiwanese actress and singer (died 2025) source
  • 27 September – Francesco Totti, football player source
  • September 20 – Yui Horie, voice actress source
  • July 16 – Bobby Lashley, American professional wrestler source
  • September 28 — Fedor Emelianenko, Russian mixed martial arts fighter source
  • October 5 – Ramzan Kadyrov, Head of the Chechen Republic source
  • November 29 – Chadwick Boseman, American actor and playwright (died 2020) source
  • November 25 – Donovan McNabb, American football player source
  • March 22 – Reese Witherspoon, actress, producer and entrepreneur source
  • August 27 – Mark Webber, Australian racing driver source
  • September 13 – Ro Khanna, politician source
  • April 1 – Troy Baker, American actor and musician source
  • March 12 – Zhao Wei, Chinese singer and actress source

What happened in 1976

  • January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. source
  • 5 January - Kingsmill massacre: ten Protestant men killed in South Armagh, Northern Ireland, by members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), using the cover name "South Armagh Republican Action Force". source
  • 12 January – Nobel Prize winning chemist John Cornforth is proclaimed as the Australian of the Year for 1975. source
  • 16 March - Downtown Radio, an adult contemporary music station, begins broadcasting from Newtownards to the Belfast area, the first Independent Local Radio in Northern Ireland. source
  • 21 February – Subang Jaya, a new township in Petaling Jaya, Selangor developed by Sime Darby was established. source
  • January 16 – A locomotive crashes into the rear of a commuter train in Glenbrook, Australia, killing one person onboard and injuring ten others in the 1976 Glenbrook rail accident. source
  • February 4 – The 1976 Winter Olympics begin in Innsbruck, Austria. source
  • 9 January – The Ministry of Development Planning is dissolved. source
Everything that happened in 1976 →