Citizens of South Korea “rejuvenated” thanks to a new system for determining the age of a person

In South Korea today, on June 28, a new system for determining the age of a person came into force, in line with global practice. As a result, according to the documents, the citizens of the country became one or two years younger, depending on the month in which they were born. BBC. Decision on the transition to global practice was taken authorities in December 2022, with the strong support of President Yoon Seok-yeol, and after a public opinion poll showed that 81.6% of citizens agreed to the changes.

So far, South Korea has used three different age determination systems at once, including the international standard. The most common practice was – on the day a person was born, add a year to him immediately, taking into account the nine months spent in the womb. And then on every first day of the new year, another year was added to his age.

This system has been repeatedly criticized because it does not accurately reflect the real age of a person. For example, if a child is born in a certain year on December 31, then on January 1 he will be considered two years old, although he is only two days old. In addition, this principle of age calculation, as well as two other existing systems of calculation, caused confusion in the work of services responsible for the provision of administrative, medical, social and other services.

Meanwhile, with the transition to the new system, the South Korean authorities decided to leave some parts of the old system. For example, buying cigarettes and alcohol in South Korea is allowed from the age of 19, but such a right does not come from the day of the 19th birthday. People who turn 19, for example, in August 2024, can buy cigarettes and alcohol from January 1 of the current year.

Alena Miklashevskaya