Age: It Really is Just a Number

It has recently come to our attention that not every country uses the same aging system. So in that respect, age might actually "just be a number." Today our focus will be on South Korea, who is changing how they determine age to be standard country wide.

A law was passed this month by the South Korean parliament that will get rid of South Korea's two traditional age counting methods beginning in June of 2023. There will be a single, standardized method to be recognized internationally as a result. What brought this change about? The South Korean government is opting to reduce confusion by adopting the same age system as the rest of the world - you turn a year older on your birthday.

It sounds like a simple change that shouldn't cause too much confusion, but South Korea has been using traditional age calculations that most of the rest of the world does not use. One of them, the Korean age system, puts newborns at one year old at birth and then age another year on the first day of the new year. So in theory, you could be born in December and then be considered 2 on January 1st. The other method, known as counting age, puts people's age at 0 from birth (like normal) and then a year is added on January 1st. This age method is the one that was used in the legal sense in a lot of places in South Korea.

The counting age was the most commonly used to determine legal age for things like being able to drink or smoke. You can see how this could be confusing for places that use one or more methods to calculate age. For example, if you were born on October 16th, 2005, you would be 17 under the standard system (ie: you'd be 17 in the US), 18 according to the counting system, and 19 under the Korean system.

What's the problem with using multiple age calculating systems? Again, this doesn't really seem like an issue until you dig deeper. Let's take the previously calculated ages and say that the person committed a crime. Are they considered juvenile? Under the international standard they are under 18, so yes, but based on the other two counting systems, no. How does that person get tried in court? We suspect there may also have been problems when seeking public assistance, as provisions for a child and provisions for an adult are different as well.

While the change will age everyone down by a year or two, it will be helpful, especially for those traveling to and from South Korea, for there to be a universal system. Is South Korea the only country that uses multiple age calculations? In short, no. Using some variation of the counting age is something that is (or was) seen in many Eastern Asian countries. The more you know!

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