/born

Born in 1986

People born in 1986 turn 40 in 2026. A dollar in 1986 buys what $3.07 buys in September 2026, and about 4.96 billion people were alive. Every figure below links to the source it came from.

Your birthday in 1986

1986

What things cost in 1986

U.S. average1986in today’s dollarslatest
One dollar$1.00$3.07CPI-U
Gallon of regular gasoline APU000074714$0.93$2.85$4.48
Dozen large eggs APU0000708111$0.87$2.67$2.27
Pound of white bread APU0000702111$0.56$1.74$1.83
Pound of ground beef APU0000703112$1.23$3.79$6.79
Pound of ground coffee APU0000717311$3.43$10.55$9.33
Pound of bananas APU0000711211$0.38$1.18$0.66
Kilowatt-hour of electricity APU000072610$0.08$0.24$0.20
Median price of a new house sold MSPUS$92,025$282,888$410,700
Median household income MEHOINUSA646N$24,900$76,544$87,460
Federal minimum wage STTMINWGFG$3.35$10.30$7.25

1986 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 1986

United States
Ronald Reagan (President)
United Kingdom
Elizabeth II (Queen); Margaret Thatcher (Prime minister)
Soviet Union
Mikhail Gorbachev (General Secretary); Andrei Gromyko (Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet); Nikolai Ryzhkov (Chairman of the Council of Ministers)
People's Republic of China
Deng Xiaoping (Paramount Leader); Hu Yaobang (General Secretary); Li Xiannian (President)
France
François Mitterrand (President); Laurent Fabius, then Jacques Chirac (Prime minister)
East Germany
Erich Honecker (Chairmen of the State Council); Willi Stoph (Chairman)
West Germany
Richard von Weizsäcker (President of West Germany); Helmut Kohl (Chancellor of West Germany)
Japan
Hirohito (Emperor)
Republic of India
Zail Singh (President); Rajiv 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 1986 →

No. 1 songs of 1986

  1. “Say You, Say Me” — Lionel Richie (2 weeks)
  2. “That's What Friends Are For” — Dionne and Friends (4 weeks)
  3. “How Will I Know” — Whitney Houston (2 weeks)
  4. “Kyrie” — Mr. Mister (2 weeks)
  5. “Sara” — Starship (1 week)
  6. “These Dreams” — Heart (1 week)
  7. “Rock Me Amadeus” — Falco (3 weeks)
  8. “Kiss” — Prince and the Revolution (2 weeks)
  9. “Addicted to Love” — Robert Palmer (1 week)
  10. “West End Girls” — Pet Shop Boys (1 week)
  11. “Greatest Love of All” — Whitney Houston (3 weeks)
  12. “Live to Tell” — Madonna (1 week)
  13. “On My Own” — Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald (3 weeks)
  14. “There'll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)” — Billy Ocean (1 week)
  15. “Holding Back the Years” — Simply Red (1 week)
  16. “Invisible Touch” — Genesis (1 week)
  17. “Sledgehammer” — Peter Gabriel (1 week)
  18. “Glory of Love” — Peter Cetera (2 weeks)
  19. “Papa Don't Preach” — Madonna (2 weeks)
  20. “Higher Love” — Steve Winwood (1 week)
  21. “Venus” — Bananarama (1 week)
  22. “Take My Breath Away” — Berlin (1 week)
  23. “Stuck with You” — Huey Lewis and the News (3 weeks)
  24. “When I Think of You” — Janet Jackson (2 weeks)
  25. “True Colors” — Cyndi Lauper (2 weeks)
  26. “Amanda” — Boston (2 weeks)
  27. “Human” — The Human League (1 week)
  28. “You Give Love a Bad Name” — Bon Jovi (1 week)
  29. “The Next Time I Fall” — Peter Cetera and Amy Grant (1 week)
  30. “The Way It Is” — Bruce Hornsby & the Range (1 week)
  31. “Walk Like an Egyptian” — The Bangles (2 weeks)

Weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with issue dates in 1986, from List of Billboard Hot 100 number ones of 1986 (Wikipedia revision 1362808943).

Famous people born in 1986

  • March 28 – Lady Gaga, American singer, songwriter and actress source
  • October 24 – Drake, Canadian actor and hip-hop rapper source
  • May 28 – Seth Rollins, American professional wrestler source
  • December 27 – Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Jamaican sprinter source
  • April 30 – Dianna Agron, American actress, singer and dancer source
  • May 1: Ryo Nurishi, football player source
  • February 10 – Radamel Falcao, Colombian footballer source
  • April 5 – Charlotte Flair, wrestler, author, and actress source
  • December 1 – Andrew Tate, American-British Internet personality and former professional kickboxer source
  • December 8 – Amir Khan, British boxer source
  • May 13 – Robert Pattinson, English actor and musician source
  • December 15 – Lauren Boebert, American politician source
  • April 22 – Marshawn Lynch, American football player source
  • November 8 – Aaron Swartz, computer programmer, internet activist, and co-founder of Reddit (died 2013) source
  • September 21 – Lindsey Stirling, American violinist, dancer, performance artist, and composer source

What happened in 1986

  • January 1 – Spain and Portugal enter the European Community, which becomes the European Union in 1993. source
  • 8 January: Minor rioting breaks out in East Jerusalem due to a visit to the Temple Mount by members of the Knesset's Interior Committee to investigate complaints of illegal construction. source
  • January 24 – The Voyager 2 space probe makes its first encounter with Uranus. source
  • January 11 – The Gateway Bridge in Brisbane, Australia, at this time the world's longest prestressed concrete free-cantilever bridge, is opened. source
  • March – Johor Circuit (Pasir Gudang), the second Malaysian race track circuit after Batu Tiga Circuit in Shah Alam, Selangor was officially opened. source
  • January 28 – Space Shuttle Challenger disaster – STS-51-L: Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrates 73 seconds after launch from the United States, killing the crew of seven astronauts, including schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe. source
  • 1 January – The establishment of National Museum of Natural Science in North District, Taichung City. source
  • 1 January – The New Israeli shekel (NIS) replaces the old shekel as Israel's official currency. source
Everything that happened in 1986 →