What year was I born if I'm 38?
1987 or 1988
Anyone who is 38 today, Friday, November 13, 2026, was born between Saturday, November 14, 1987 and Sunday, November 13, 1988. The boundary falls in the middle of the year, so the answer spans two of them.
- Earliest birth date
- November 14, 1987
- Latest birth date
- November 13, 1988
- Birth years
- 1987 or 1988
- Age today
- 38
Which year, exactly
Someone born on Sunday, November 13, 1988 turns 38 today. Someone born a day later, on Monday, November 14, 1988, is still 37 until tomorrow. That is why “what year” has two answers rather than one, and why a birth date rather than a year is what settles it.
Read the other way round: to be exactly 38 today, a date of birth has to fall on or after Saturday, November 14, 1987 and on or before Sunday, November 13, 1988.
That window contains 29 February 1988, so some people who are 38 today were born on a date that only comes round every four years — 38 years old with 9 birthdays behind them rather than 38. The next 29 February is when they have another.
The two candidate years
- Born in 1987from November 14, 1987
- Born in 1988up to November 13, 1988