Key Points
- More Australians are born between January and June than in the second half of the year.
- The most common birthdate in Australia is 21 September.
- Public holidays make for the least common birthdays in Australia.
Is your date of birth common? Or do you enjoy relative exclusivity on your birthday?
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has crunched the numbers to establish the most and least common dates of birth in Australia recorded between 2014 and 2023.
The last time such data was released was in 2016.
Here’s what the ABS found:
How common is your birthdate?
The most common birthdate in the years surveyed was 21 September, with nearly 9,000 people in Australia born on that day. Incidentally, it’s roughly nine months from Christmas time.
The September date came in just one person ahead of 17 March. March was a common month to be born in, with seven of the most common birthdates falling in the third month of the year.
On the other hand, the least common date of birth was 29 February — which comes around once every four years (in a leap year).
Less than 1,400 people in Australia had their birthday on this date in the years surveyed.
Credit: SBS News
More babies are born in the year’s first half
The data also shows that over the 10-year period, more babies were born between January and June in Australia than during the rest of the year.
By the middle of October, the number of births starts to drop off, only to pick up in the new year again.
See the charts below to find out how common your birthday is:
Credit: SBS News
Credit: SBS News
Fewer babies are born on public holidays
Along with the most and least common dates of birth, the ABS data also reveals public holiday dates are not popular birthdays in Australia.
After 29 February, the least common birthdate is 25 December, Christmas Day.
Between 2014 and 2023, just under 4,100 Australians were born on this date.
Credit: SBS News
Among the 10 least common birthdates over the 10-year period, five fell on public holidays:
- Christmas Day (25 December)
- Boxing Day (26 December)
- New Year’s Day (1 January)
- Australia Day (26 January) and
- ANZAC day (25 April)
Dr Nisha Khot, vice-president of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, explained why this is the case.
“On any given day, between 25 and 30 per cent of births that occur in Australian hospitals are by elective procedures such as C-section and induction of labour. On public holidays, we do not schedule these procedures,” she told SBS News.
She also said people would prefer not to be in hospital on a public holiday.
According to the ABS data, 286,998 births were registered in 2023. Ten years ago, this number stood at 308,065.
Australia’s population stands at just over 27 million (27,204,809) as of June this year.