Birthdays are a funny thing. Some people turn theirs into a month-long affair, complete with boozy brunches, long family lunches and maybe even a cheeky weekend getaway. Others will do anything to avoid the candle blowing kerfuffle and suffering through ‘Happy Birthday’ while the whole restaurant gives them side-eye. Love them or hate them, you can’t avoid having a birthday – some days are just more special, or popular, than the rest.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has crunched the numbers to reveal our nation’s most and least common birthdays from 2014 to 2023. It’s the first time they’ve done the maths since 2016, and reveals some pretty cool stats. September 21 took the cake (literally) as the most popular birthday in Australia, with almost 9,000 Aussies born on that day. If you do the maths, that’s roughly nine months after Christmas…
Just one baby separated September 21 from March 17, which came in as the second most common birthday in Australia. Overall, March was the most popular month, claiming seven out of the top ten spots. The only other outliers were February 10 in fourth place and May 5 in eighth.
On the flip side, February 29 is the least common birthday in Australia – but that’s no surprise given it’s Leap Day (which happens once every four years). Randomly, five out of the ten rarest birthdays were public holidays, including December 25 (Christmas) in second, December 26 (Boxing Day) in third, January 1 (New Year’s Day) in fourth and January 26 in fifth. But this actually checks out, as many prospective parents avoid scheduling C-sections or labour inductions on these big days. Check out if your birthday lands on either list below.
These are the 10 most popular birthdays in Australia
- September 21
- March 17
- March 3
- February 10
- March 31
- March 24
- March 16
- May 5
- March 10
- March 2
These are the 10 least popular birthdays in Australia
- February 29 (Leap Day)
- December 25 (Christmas)
- December 26 (Boxing Day)
- January 1 (New Year’s Day)
- January 26 (Invasion Day)
- December 24 (Christmas Eve)
- December 27
- April 25 (Anzac Day)
- December 31 (New Year’s Eve)
- December 13