News

This is the most popular day of the year to be born

Picture:
Picture:
Pekic / iStock

It can sometimes feel like like your friends, family and people in the office have all their birthdays unhelpfully clustered together. It's a nightmare, especially on your wallet (celebratory drinks never come cheap).

But, actually, the most popular day to be born is 26 September.

In fact, the top 10 most popular birthdays over the past 20 years are all at the end of September and early October, according to Office for National Statistics figures published in 2015.

Delivery rooms get so busy at this time of year, one midwife recently even took to Twitter to beg people to spread out the love across the year.

29 February has the lowest number of births over the same 20 years - because it only occurs once every leap year.

The ONS stats also shows that, while an average of 1,800 babies are born every day in England and Wales, the figure for 26 September is closer to 2,000.

Why?

Well, nine months earlier is Christmas and New Year.

The ONS states:

A peak in births in late September show that more babies are conceived in the weeks leading up to and days after Christmas than at any other time of the year.

Another reason, ONS says, could be due to people planning to have children at the start of the school year.

On average, a baby is born every 48 seconds in England and Wales. This drops to one every minute and six seconds in January.

More: How common your birthday is in one simple chart

The Conversation (0)
x