Because South Koreans will become a year or two younger

South Korea today passed a law that scraps the traditional method of calculating one’s age and adopts international standards – a change that will result in citizens appearing 1 or 2 years younger on official documents.

South Koreans consider a person to be one year old when they are born, and every January 1st a year is added. This is the age most often used by citizens in their daily lives.

There is also a separate system for recruitment purposes or calculating the legal drinking and smoking age, in which one’s age is calculated from zero at birth and a year is added on January 1st.

Since the early 1960s, however, South Korea has mandated that medical and legal documents use the international practice of counting age from zero at birth and adding a year to each birthday anniversary.

The confusion caused by the different systems will disappear – at least in official documents – when new laws come into force in June 2023 that only use the international method for calculating age.

“The revision aims to limit the unnecessary socio-economic costs caused by legal and social disputes as there continues to be confusion due to different methods of calculating age,” Wu Sang-bum of the ruling People’s Power Party told Parliament.

Jong Da-un, a 29-year-old office worker, is happy with the change, saying she has always had to think carefully when asked about her age abroad.

“I remember strangers looking at me with concern because it took me so long to give an answer about my age.”

“Who wouldn’t want to be a year or two younger?” he added.

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