With the legalization of age of majority, there is now guidance on how to calculate age correctly. From now on, the age calculation will depend on whether the birthday has passed or not. Let’s look at a more detailed explanation of this.
How to calculate age with “age in years
The Ministry of Justice has released a Q&A poster on the implementation of the Uniform Act on the Age of majority. According to this, if your birthday has passed this year, you can calculate your age by subtracting the year you were born from the current year. However, if your birthday hasn’t passed, you can calculate your age by subtracting an extra year from the current year minus the year you were born.
For example, as of June, a person born in May 1991 would be 32 years old by subtracting 1991 from 2023, and a person born in September 1991 would be 31 years old by subtracting 1991 from 2023 and then subtracting an additional year from there.
What do friends call each other?
The age calculation can cause age differences between friends. But the law says you don’t have to call your friends by different names. It may be a little awkward at first, but as the use of age becomes more widespread, we expect to see the Korean hierarchy culture of strictly counting one or two years of age disappear.
What is my age?
You can calculate your age by entering the link below.
https://www.moleg.go.kr/menu.es?mid=a10111060000#
Other things
The implementation of the Age Unification Law does not change the compulsory school age, pension age, or retirement age. Age for statutory purposes is calculated as the age of majority as before, unless otherwise specified, and age is applied to administrative and judicial standards, and the age indicated in statutes, contracts, official documents, etc. is interpreted as the age of majority.
Conclusion
Recently, we introduced the “age of majority calculation” to show how to accurately calculate your age based on the number of years since your birthday. This change doesn’t significantly affect nicknames or anything else between friends, and is expected to be a meaningful change in terms of unifying age for legal and social purposes.
FAQs
- What is the difference between “age” and “counting”?
- “Age” is the age calculated based on whether a birthday has passed, which is the current year minus the year you were born. On the other hand, “counting age” is a way of expressing your current age as it is, regardless of your birthday.
- Before the age of majority calculation, how was age calculated?
- Prior to the Act, age of majority was already calculated as the age of majority unless otherwise specified by law. However, there was a difference in how it was calculated depending on whether or not the birthday had passed.
- Why is age unification necessary legally and socially?
- Age unification is intended to provide legal and social uniformity. By calculating age consistently, you can provide accurate age information and more clearly define an individual’s rights and responsibilities.
- Has the age of majority calculation changed the age of entry into elementary school?
- No, with the implementation of the age of majority calculation, the primary school starting age remains the same as before. The school age is still set at March 1 of the year following the year in which the child turns 6.
- What are the implications of the “age of majority” law for society?
- The “age of majority” unification law is expected to provide consistency and transparency in age calculation, leading to social unity. It can also gradually eliminate the hierarchy culture in Korea and increase the uniformity of age-based policies and institutions.
