Time Magazine.

One of my all time favorite magazines is Time.  Now, it's definitely not the best magazine for recipes, home improvements, or creative gift ideas, but I can say that when I turn that last page, I feel a bit more educated and knowledgeable about the world, and that is probably why I love it so much!  Peter bought me a subscription for Christmas YEARS ago and we have been renewing that subscription ever since.  I think it's only $15 for a year, which seems crazy considering each magazine costs at least $3 in the store.  And $15 is an amazing deal considering you get a magazine EVERY single week.  This weekly arrival is a beautiful thing, but it can also be a dreadful thing when the magazines keep stacking up and you don't seem to have time to read them all!

Over the past few weeks, I have been working through my stack, and this picture and these notes were in the January 9th magazine.  And I was intrigued by it all - and I thought you might be too!  So, I of course wanted to share it.

The picture reads...

Hello.  My name is Sophia.  I'm an American baby born in 2012, and I already know a few things about myself*

I am one of 4 million babies who will be born in the U.S. in 2012.

China will be home to 16 million new babies this year.

I can expect to live 81.3 years - until 2093! (American boys born in 2012 have a life expectancy of 76.2 years - five years less than girls)

An Indian girl born today can expect to live to 66.

My parents can expect to spend about $150,000 on my in-state tuition at a public U.S. college or $500,000 for four years at a private college (before financial aid, loans and scholarships).

But if I'd been born in Germany, my university education would probably be free.

If I finish college, I can expect to get married at about age 30.  I'll get married a few years earlier - at age 26 - if I don't earn a college degree.

By age 40, I'll be making $95,733 a year; by the 2070s, I'll have earned $4,033,688 after working for 40 years.

An Indian baby born in 2012 can expect lifeteime earnings of $494,241.

35% of my American peers will be obese in adulthood.

7.6% of Chinese babies will grow up to be obese.

There's a 60% chance that i'll live in the suburbs; 28% that I'll live in a city.

90% of Brazilian babies born in 2012 will live in an urban area.

I'll likely have two babies.  (Women born in the U.S. will give birth to an average of 2.09 chilren, to be precise)

Nigerian girls born in 2012 will give birth to an average of 4.82 children.

I've got a 23% chance that my marriage will end in divorce - and a 41% chance I'll never marry at all.

A Brazilian girl born in 2012 has a 25% chance of marrying before age 18.

*Actually my name isn't Sophia, and I wasn't even born in 2012.  But Sophia is likely the most popular American baby-girl name of 2012, as projected by expert Laura Wattenberg, author of The Baby Name Wizard.

Hope you feel a little bit more educated and knowledgeable about the world today!  Thanks for reading!

xoxo, 

Malia