What year was I born if I'm 42?
1983 or 1984
Anyone who is 42 today, Friday, November 13, 2026, was born between Monday, November 14, 1983 and Tuesday, November 13, 1984. The boundary falls in the middle of the year, so the answer spans two of them.
- Earliest birth date
- November 14, 1983
- Latest birth date
- November 13, 1984
- Birth years
- 1983 or 1984
- Age today
- 42
Which year, exactly
Someone born on Tuesday, November 13, 1984 turns 42 today. Someone born a day later, on Wednesday, November 14, 1984, is still 41 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 42 today, a date of birth has to fall on or after Monday, November 14, 1983 and on or before Tuesday, November 13, 1984.
That window contains 29 February 1984, so some people who are 42 today were born on a date that only comes round every four years — 42 years old with 10 birthdays behind them rather than 42. The next 29 February is when they have another.
The two candidate years
- Born in 1983from November 14, 1983
- Born in 1984up to November 13, 1984