A leap year birthday is a birthday on February 29, a date that only exists in leap years. People born on it, often called leaplings or leapers, still age one year every year. In common years most celebrate on February 28 or March 1. The next February 29 is in 2028.
How a leap year birthday works
Age counts the time since birth, and that keeps going whether or not the calendar has a February 29. Someone born on 29 February 2008 turns 18 in 2026, like anyone else born in 2008. Leaplings do not age every four years.
The joke is in counting real birthdays. That same person has had only four actual February 29s since birth: 2012, 2016, 2020 and 2024. So leaplings like to say they are a quarter of their age.
Born | Age on 1 March 2026 | Real February 29 birthdays so far |
|---|---|---|
29 February 2000 | 26 | 6 |
29 February 2004 | 22 | 5 |
29 February 2008 | 18 | 4 |
29 February 2012 | 14 | 3 |
29 February 2016 | 10 | 2 |
29 February 2020 | 6 | 1 |
29 February 2024 | 2 | 0 |
A rough rule: divide your age by four to get your count of real birthdays. It is a little off when your life spans a century year such as 2100, which has no February 29.
February 28 or March 1?
In a common year, there is no February 29, so leaplings pick a day. Many celebrate on February 28 to stay in their birth month. Others choose March 1, which is the day after February 28 just as February 29 would have been.
For legal purposes it depends on the country. According to timeanddate.com, New Zealand treats February 28 as the official birthday in common years, while in the United Kingdom leap day babies wait until March 1. Practical problems are more common than legal ones. Boston University reported one graduate who was refused entry to a bar on her 21st birthday because the staff doubted February 29 was a real date.
Country | Birthday in a common year |
|---|---|
New Zealand | February 28 |
United Kingdom | March 1 |
Our Birthday Countdown counts down to March 1 in common years and to the real February 29 in leap years.
How rare is a leap year birthday?
A four-year cycle has 1,461 days, and one of them is February 29. That gives odds of about 1 in 1,461. Boston University cites an estimate of about five million leaplings worldwide.
US birth records show the same rarity. From 1994 to 2014, February 29 averaged 10,512 births in the years it occurred, a little below the 11,175 average for all days. Over a four-year cycle that is roughly a quarter of an ordinary date, which makes it the rarest birthday by far. Our post on the most common birthdays ranks every other date.
Why do we have leap years?
The Earth takes about 365.24 days to go around the Sun. A calendar of 365 days would slowly drift against the seasons, so an extra day is added most fourth years.
Julius Caesar's Julian calendar, introduced in 45 BC, added a leap day every four years. That slightly overcorrected. The Gregorian calendar of 1582, used almost everywhere today, fixed it with one more rule.
A year divisible by 4 is a leap year.
A year divisible by 100 is not a leap year.
A year divisible by 400 is a leap year after all.
So 2000 was a leap year, but 1900 was not, and 2100 will not be.
Every leap year to 2048
Leap year | February 29 falls on |
|---|---|
2028 | Tuesday |
2032 | Sunday |
2036 | Friday |
2040 | Wednesday |
2044 | Monday |
2048 | Saturday |
The last leap day was 29 February 2024, a Thursday. A February 29 birthday moves through the days of the week as the leap years pass, so a weekend leap day party is not guaranteed.
Famous people born on February 29
Name | Born | Known for |
|---|---|---|
Pope Paul III | 1468 | Pope |
Gioachino Rossini | 1792 | Composer |
Herman Hollerith | 1860 | Statistician and inventor |
Morarji Desai | 1896 | Prime Minister of India |
Jimmy Dorsey | 1904 | Bandleader |
Tony Robbins | 1960 | Author and speaker |
Pedro Sánchez | 1972 | Prime Minister of Spain |
Ja Rule | 1976 | Rapper and actor |
Mark Foster | 1984 | Singer |
Tyrese Haliburton | 2000 | Basketball player |
Leap day birthday records
Two families hold well-known records. The Keogh family is the only verified case of three generations in a row born on February 29. The Henriksen family of Norway holds the record for the most children born on leap day in one family, with three.
When do people born on February 29 celebrate their birthday?
In common years most celebrate on February 28 or March 1. In leap years they celebrate on February 29.
How old is someone born on February 29?
The same age as anyone else born that year. Age counts years since birth, so a leapling born in 2008 is 18 in 2026.
When does a leapling legally turn a year older?
It depends on the country. New Zealand uses February 28 in common years and the UK uses March 1, according to timeanddate.com.
What are the odds of being born on February 29?
About 1 in 1,461, since a four-year cycle has 1,461 days.
How many leaplings are there?
Boston University cites an estimate of about five million people worldwide.
When is the next leap year?
2028. After that, 2032, 2036 and 2040.
Is 2100 a leap year?
No. Years divisible by 100 are not leap years unless they are also divisible by 400, so 2100 will have no February 29.
What is a leapling?
A person born on February 29. Leaper is another common name.
Sources
Leap day timeline, timeanddate.com (legal birthdays in New Zealand and the UK, family records)
Leap year babies celebrate a rare birthday, Boston University, 2024 (1 in 1,461 odds, five million leaplings, the bar story)
February 29, Wikipedia (people born on February 29)
US births 1994-2003 and 2000-2014, FiveThirtyEight data on GitHub (February 29 birth counts, calculated by Age Finder)
