South Koreans became younger in just a day! Here’s how the new South Korean law decreases age!

Recently on Wednesday, South Koreans became younger than their actual age. Wondering how? That’s because of a law in South Korea that standardizes the manner in which the government keeps count of age.

While the whole world counts age in nearly the same manner, South Korea has its own ways of counting age. In South Korea, there are three popular ways to count age. However, the government of South Korea has recently altered its civil code to recognize a uniform way to count age.

The three methods of counting are:

• The Korean age method

 It is the most famous method in the country. Under the Korean age method, an individual is considered to be 1 year old at the time of birth. Every January 1, a year is added to their age. This also holds true in the case of a person born on December 31, as that person will be considered as 2 years old the very next day. In this sense, the year of birth, and not the date of birth determines the age of an individual. In South Korea, the Korean age method is recognized in social situations.

• The age calculation method used all around the globe

The method is such that in order to calculate age, one starts from zero on the individual’s date of birth, and then adds a year at every birthday. This is the method to calculate age all over the globe.

While this is the method popular elsewhere, for Koreans, this method is a deviation from the “Korean age” method. Since the year 1962, this method has been in use for official and legal purposes.

• The “year age” method

This method is perhaps the amalgamation of the above two methods. The age-counting procedure starts at zero at birth. However, it adds a year of age every January 1. This method is applied to laws like the Military Service Act.

Do all these methods create confusion?

Yes. South Koreans have faced the problem of confusion and errors in all sorts of situations like labor disputes, health recommendations, social hierarchy, and more.

For instance, inconsistent age standards have been used by health officials during the coronavirus vaccinations.

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The new law

The new law in South Korea recognizes the international system of age calculation, which considers the actual date of birth of the person to calculate age. In this way, everyone in South Korea who used to calculate age through the age-old “Korean age” method, becomes one or two years younger.

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