A family, one year at a time
Family photos freeze a moment, but they rarely tell you exactly how old everyone was. This chart does. Each person is a bar whose height is their age in the year you choose, so you can slide back to the year you met your partner, the year your first child was born, or the summer of a family holiday, and see everyone’s ages side by side. Press play and the family grows up in front of you: bars appear when someone is born and rise steadily as the years pass.
It is a simple way to answer questions that come up at family gatherings, such as how old Grandad was when Mum was born, or how old you were when your sister started school.
How we calculate it
For the year you pick, we take each person’s age in whole years on 1 July, the middle of that year. That keeps everyone’s age consistent for the year, whatever their birthday. Anyone born after that date appears as not yet born. The bars share one scale, set by the oldest person’s age today, so heights can be compared from year to year.
| Year | Born 1990 | Born 1992 | Born 2018 | Born 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 10 | 8 | not born | not born |
| 2018 | 28 | 26 | 0 | not born |
| 2026 | 36 | 34 | 8 | 4 |
Worked example. A family of four with birthdays on 12 April 1990, 18 June 1992, 3 May 2018 and 14 September 2021 has been complete since 2021. In 2026 their ages on 1 July are 36, 34, 8 and 4, an average of 20.5. Counting whole years on 1 July, the eldest will be exactly twice the youngest’s age in 2054, at 64 and 32.
Make it a family project
Children love seeing the year they appeared on the chart. Add grandparents and great-grandparents and it becomes a small family history, with each bar a reminder of who was around for which chapter.
Questions people ask
Who can I add?
Anyone: partners, children, siblings, parents, grandparents, even pets. Up to eight people fit on the chart.
How are ages counted for a year?
We show each person’s age on 1 July of the chosen year, the middle of the year, in whole years. Someone born later than that date shows as not born yet.
Can I see the future too?
This page covers the years up to now. For the years ahead, try the family in 20 years calculator, which shows everyone’s ages for any year you pick.
Is anything saved?
Your own birthday is remembered on this device. Everyone else stays only while the page is open.
Sources. Gregorian calendar; ages taken on 1 July of each year. Calculations run in your browser; nothing you enter is sent anywhere.