Would you believe that there is a country in the world where the age of all people has decreased by one to two years overnight?
Yes indeed, South Korea has passed a law to adopt the international standard by declaring the traditional method of calculating age obsolete.
With the passage of this law, the age of South Korean citizens on official documents will be reduced by one to two years.
In South Korea, a child is considered to be one year old at birth and a year is added to the age on January 1st.
Apart from this, a separate system of age for legal purposes also exists in South Korea, under which the age at birth is one day, but the age is increased by one year on January 1st of each year.
Since the 1960s, medical records in South Korea have taken into account the international standard for calculating age, i.e. adding one day at birth and then adding one year to the birthday.
But now all systems are being phased out from June 2023. At least in official documents, the international standard for keeping age under this law will be adopted.
Yoo Sang-bum, a member of South Korea’s ruling party, told parliament that the law change was aimed at reducing unnecessary social and economic costs, as the old systems led to legal and social conflicts as well as people’s confusion.
South Korean people are also happy with this change and they say that now if someone asks for age, they have to think for a long time before answering.
