Born in 1997
People born in 1997 turn 29 in 2026. A dollar in 1997 buys what $2.10 buys in September 2026, and about 5.92 billion people were alive. Every figure below links to the source it came from.
Your birthday in 1997
1997
What things cost in 1997
| U.S. average | 1997 | in today’s dollars | latest |
|---|---|---|---|
| One dollar | $1.00 | $2.10 | CPI-U |
| Gallon of regular gasoline APU000074714 | $1.23 | $2.59 | $4.48 |
| Dozen large eggs APU0000708111 | $1.06 | $2.22 | $2.27 |
| Pound of white bread APU0000702111 | $0.87 | $1.83 | $1.83 |
| Gallon of whole milk APU0000709112 | $2.61 | $5.49 | $4.11 |
| Pound of ground beef APU0000703112 | $1.40 | $2.93 | $6.79 |
| Pound of ground coffee APU0000717311 | $4.11 | $8.63 | $9.33 |
| Pound of bananas APU0000711211 | $0.49 | $1.02 | $0.66 |
| Kilowatt-hour of electricity APU000072610 | $0.09 | $0.20 | $0.20 |
| Median price of a new house sold MSPUS | $145,000 | $304,369 | $410,700 |
| Median household income MEHOINUSA646N | $37,010 | $77,688 | $87,460 |
| Federal minimum wage STTMINWGFG | $4.75 | $9.97 | $7.25 |
1997 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 1997
- United States
- Bill Clinton (President)
- United Kingdom
- Elizabeth II (Queen); John Major, then Tony Blair (Prime minister)
- Russia
- Boris Yeltsin (President); Viktor Chernomyrdin (Prime minister)
- People's Republic of China
- Jiang Zemin (General Secretary; Paramount Leader); Jiang Zemin (President); Li Peng (Premier)
- France
- Jacques Chirac (President); Alain Juppé, then Lionel Jospin (Prime minister)
- Federal Republic of Germany
- Roman Herzog (President); Helmut Kohl (Chancellor of reunified Germany)
- Japan
- Akihito (Emperor)
- Republic of India
- Shankar Dayal Sharma, then K. R. Narayanan (President); H. D. Deve Gowda, then I. K. Gujral (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 1997 →
No. 1 songs of 1997
- “Un-Break My Heart” — Toni Braxton (7 weeks)
- “Wannabe” — Spice Girls (4 weeks)
- “Can't Nobody Hold Me Down” — Puff Daddy featuring Mase (6 weeks)
- “Hypnotize” — The Notorious B.I.G. (3 weeks)
- “MMMBop” — Hanson (3 weeks)
- “I'll Be Missing You” — Puff Daddy and Faith Evans featuring 112 (11 weeks)
- “Mo Money Mo Problems” — The Notorious B.I.G. featuring Puff Daddy and Mase (2 weeks)
- “Honey” — Mariah Carey (3 weeks)
- “4 Seasons of Loneliness” — Boyz II Men (1 week)
- “Candle in the Wind 1997 / Something About the Way You Look Tonight” — Elton John (12 weeks)
Weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with issue dates in 1997, from List of Billboard Hot 100 number ones of 1997 (Wikipedia revision 1363062856).
Famous people born in 1997
- 30 September – Max Verstappen, racing driver and the 2021 Formula One World Champion source
- 8 April – Keira Walsh, footballer source
- 21 March - Tini, singer and actress source
- March 30 – Cha Eun-woo, singer and actor, member of boy band Astro source
- 31 October – Marcus Rashford, footballer source
- March 14 – Simone Biles, Olympic artistic gymnast source
- 12 July – Malala Yousafzai, activist for female education source
- October 16 – Naomi Osaka, tennis player source
- March 17 – Katie Ledecky, swimmer source
- June 6 – Akane Yamaguchi, badminton player source
- 15 April – Maisie Williams, actress source
- 3 January – Joe Morrell, footballer source
- 24 August – Alan Walker, English-Norwegian music producer and DJ source
- December 12 – Jacob Wohl, far-right conspiracy theorist, fraudster, and internet troll source
- March 16 – Roxie Smith, actress, model, endorser, event and television presenter, and beauty pageant titleholder source
What happened in 1997
- 7 January - John Atta Mills is sworn in as Vice President of Ghana. source
- January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. source
- January 17 – A Delta II rocket carrying a military GPS payload explodes, shortly after liftoff from Cape Canaveral. source
- January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. source
- 20 March – The first shipment of food and other commodities is delivered to Iraq as part of phase 1of the Oil-for-Food Programme. source
- February 4 – On their way to Lebanon, two Israeli troop-transport helicopters collide, killing all 73 on board. source
- 6 March - 40th independence anniversary held. source
- March 4 – U.S. President Bill Clinton bans federal funding for any research on human cloning. source