The month of February gets an extra day once every four years. People whose birthdays fall on February 29 get to celebrate their special day only when a Leap Year comes around.

Since 2025 is not a Leap Year, people born on Leap Day will only get to celebrate their birthday officially in 2028.

Leap Year birthday: How to calculate age

If we consider just the Leap Year birthdays, a person be one-fourth of their actual age in terms of birthdays if they were born on February 29. For instance, a person born on February 29, 1984, would only be 10 years old now if their only official Leap Year birthday is considered. In real terms, their age would be 41 this year.

Some people prefer to celebrate their birthday on February 28 to not wait years for a birthday bash, while others choose March 1.

Leap Day birthdays: When to celebrate

Some countries have rules for when people born on this rare date come of age. In countries like the UK, Leap Year babies have their official birthday on March 1 in common years. In New Zealand, it is February 28.

Also Read : UK banking chaos: Lloyds, Halifax, TSB customers struggle as payday outage sparks frustration

Leap Year celebrity birthdays

A number of celebrities have been born on February 29. Here are some of them:

Ja Rule: The rapper was born in 1976. Ja Rule has four Grammy nominations to his name.

Tony Robbins: A motivational speaker with legions of followers, Tony Robbins was born in 1960. In Leap Year terms, the 64-year-old is still 16.

Antonio Sabato Jr: The General Hospital actor has often been in the headlines, and not because of his birthday. Sabato Jr’s unsuccessful Congress run and his support for Donald Trump during his 2016 presidency kept him in the news.

Mark Foster: The lead singer of Foster the People was born in 1984.

Pedro Sanchez: The Spanish Prime Minister was born in 1972. Sanchez has been the Prime Minister of Spain since 2018.

When is the next Leap Year and why does it happen?

The next Leap Year is 2028. To figure out if a year is a Leap Year, you need to divide it by four. If the number is completely divisible, then it means that it is a Leap Year.

The event occurs since the Earth takes slightly longer than 365 days to orbit the Sun. The planet takes 365.2422 days exactly to orbit the Sun. Every four years, this adds up to an extra day i.e. a Leap Year.

Also Read: Congo mystery illness: Over 1,000 infected as WHO calls disease significant public health threat

About five million people worldwide or 0.06 per cent of the world’s population share a birthday on February 29, according to Associated Press.

FAQs

1. When is the next Leap Year?
The next Leap Year is 2028.


2. How often does a Leap Year happen?
It occurs every four years.