Born Then
1997–1999

Life during the 1997 Asian financial crisis

Be born in a place it hit, a few years before it began, and see what it did to five ordinary lives.

What it meant for ordinary people

Currencies in Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea collapsed in 1997, followed by bankruptcies, layoffs and IMF austerity programmes. Indonesia's economy shrank by about 13 percent in 1998, and riots helped end Suharto's rule.

How hard it hits each person in the game (risk of death, of being conscripted, of leaving) comes from our model, estimated from the sources.

Around the same time