Everyone in South Korea is about to become younger after the government passed a new law that will change how a person’s age is calculated.
The new legislation that takes effect from Wednesday, ended the nation’s ancient and unusual way of counting age.
South Korea under the new law is adopting the international method that uses a person’s actual date of birth to determine their age.
Under its traditional method, a person is considered to be one year old at birth, and the whole country becomes a year older every January 1, New Year’s Day regardless of their actual date of birth.
For instance, a child born in December will be considered two years old on January 1st.
The new law that takes effect Wednesday means all South Koreans will officially become a year or two years younger.
However, it is up to individual citizens to adjust their ages based on their birth dates.
Officials say a separate method of calculation that uses the date a person is born and then adds a year each January 1 will remain in effect for compulsory military service, education and the legal drinking age. Although the legal drinking age will fall from 20 to 19 years old.
Previously, both China and Japan used this traditional method of counting, including the months the person was inside the womb. They also counted age based on the New Year rather than an individual’s birthday, though they adopted international aging standards in the 1900s.
Ifunanya Ikueze is an Engineer, Safety Professional, Writer, Investor, Entrepreneur and Educator.
