Here in New Zealand, we count our age the way the majority of the world does, born at the age of 0 and ageing a year every time it is our day of birth. For example, if you were born on February 5th, 2001, you would age one year on February 5th 2002. Pretty simple, right?
But did you know that in South Korea, the way that we count our age is only one of three ways that they count theirs. Here’s something new for you to learn today.
In South Korea, they have three different ways that they keep track of their age, the first being the worldwide method I just mentioned which we don’t need to go into depth about.
The second method they use to count their age is when they are born at the age of 0, they age one year every January 1st, or, New Years Eve, regardless of their date of birth. The third method is quite similar. It is the traditional way, more commonly used around South Korean society.
In this method, when they are born, they automatically turn one year old, and no matter their birth date, they age a year every New Years Eve.
This means that most South Koreans have three different confirmed ages, regardless of the method they choose to age. A good example is BTS’s V (Kim Tae-hyung), who was born on December 30th, 1995. He is 26 by the international method, 27 by the second Korean method, and 28 by the traditional, most common Korean method. Isn’t the way South Koreans count their age super interesting?
