Year 2023: Fun Facts, Trivia, and History

This quick read presents a mix of fun facts, trivia, and history events from the year 2023. Discover the year’s top news stories, most influential people, computer and Internet facts, entertainment trivia, and much more.

Take a journey through history in just minutes.

1. President of the United States: Joe Biden (D-Delaware)
2. Vice President: Kamala Harris (D-California)
3. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: John Roberts (Maryland)
4. Speaker of the House of Representatives: Nancy Pelosi (D-California)—Until January 3
5. Speaker of the House of Representatives: Kevin McCarthy (R-California)—From January 7 to October 3, when he was removed from office because “he relied on Democratic votes to pass a stopgap funding bill to prevent a government shutdown, which infuriated hard-right Republicans.”
6. Speaker of the House of Representatives: Vacant from October 3 to October 25
7. Speaker of the House of Representatives: Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana)—Beginning on October 25
8. Senate Majority Leader: Chuck Schumer (D-New York)
9. The 117th U.S. Congress was in session until January 3, when the 118th U.S. Congress convened.
10. Inflation rate: 4.12%
11. Consumer price index (CPI): 304.702
12. U.S. unemployment rate: 3.6%
13. $100.00 in 2023 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $109.29 today. The U.S. dollar had “an average inflation rate of 3.01% per year” between 2023 and 2026, “producing a cumulative price increase of 9.29%.” In other words, a U.S. dollar today buys about 91.500% of what it could purchase back in 2023.
14. It’s worth noting that the U.S. dollar has lost about 9% of its value since 2023.
15. On January 5, the funeral for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI was held in St. Peter’s Square, presided over by Pope Francis.
16. On February 3, a train carrying toxic chemicals, including vinyl chloride, derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, “starting a fire and leading to an intentional burn off of chemicals to stop a possible [chemical-induced] explosion.”
17. On February 3-4, the Mount Washington Observatory in New Hampshire recorded a record-shattering wind chill of -108°F.
18. On February 23, former film producer Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 16 years in prison for rape, on top of the 23 years he was already serving for other sex crimes.
19. On February 26, a winter storm blanketed parts of southern California with snow for the first time in decades.
20. On March 1, social media site TikTok announced a 60-minute daily screen time limit for users under 18, “in response to concerns about its addictive and harmful algorithms.”
21. On March 8, the Gyres Institute reported that about 171 trillion pieces of plastic now litter the world's oceans, an increase from 16 trillion in 2005.
22. On March 12, at the 95th Academy Awards, Everything Everywhere All at Once won an Oscar for Best Picture, and Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (the Daniels) won an Oscar for Best Director(s) (Everything Everywhere All at Once).
23. On April 2, Lake Tulare, once the largest body of water west of the Mississippi, re-emerged and consequently covered an estimated 160 square miles after a series of storms in California's Central Valley.
24. In June, Brazilian officials “confiscated over 63,000 pounds of shark fins that were destined for Asian markets, where they are used in traditional Chinese medicine or served as a delicacy in shark fin soup and can fetch up to $1,300 per pound.”
25. On June 30, the U.S. Supreme Court “ruled 6-3 against the Biden administration's student debt forgiveness plan for 40 million students, saying the president overstepped his authority.”
26. On July 14, the historic SAG-AFTRA strike began, “shutting down Hollywood as 160,000 actors joined writers on picket lines in Los Angeles, New York, and across the U.S.” This dramatic move “marked the first joint strike between actors and writers in over 60 years.”
27. On September 18, the Japanese government announced that for the first time in history, “one in ten Japanese people is now over the age of 80,” and another 29.1% are over the age of 65.
28. On September 26, President Biden became the first U.S. president “to walk a picket line, telling striking autoworkers in Michigan, ‘You deserve a significant raise.’”
29. On October 2, the U.S. Postal Service issued a “commemorative” stamp honoring the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
30. On November 1, the Chambers Dictionary announced that the word “AI” was the most “notable” word of 2023.
31. On November 7, Cherelle Parker was elected as Philadelphia’s 100th mayor and also the first woman and first Black woman to become mayor.

References:

1. https://www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/2023
2. https://www.famousbirthdays.com/deceased/2023.html
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_in_the_United_States
4. https://www.officialdata.org/us/inflation/2023
5. https://www.foodreference.com/html/html/food-timeline-2020.
6. html
7. https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/2023
8. https://www.mclib.info/Research/Morris-County-Library-Reference-Guides/Historic-Prices/Historic-Prices-2020s/Historic-Prices-2023
9. https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/most-popular-tv-shows-highest-rated-2023-2023-season-yellowstone-football-1235623612/
10. https://www.mothermag.com/most-popular-baby-names-of-2023/

Disclaimer: In writing and editing this article, Gregory DeVictor has made every effort to ensure historical accuracy and not to mislead his audience. In addition, the contents of this article, including text, graphics, and captions, are for general informational purposes only.

© 2026 Gregory DeVictor