What year was I born if I'm 78?
1947 or 1948
Anyone who is 78 today, Thursday, September 24, 2026, was born between Thursday, September 25, 1947 and Friday, September 24, 1948. The boundary falls in the middle of the year, so the answer spans two of them.
- Earliest birth date
- September 25, 1947
- Latest birth date
- September 24, 1948
- Birth years
- 1947 or 1948
- Age today
- 78
Which year, exactly
Someone born on Friday, September 24, 1948 turns 78 today. Someone born a day later, on Saturday, September 25, 1948, is still 77 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 78 today, a date of birth has to fall on or after Thursday, September 25, 1947 and on or before Friday, September 24, 1948.
That window contains 29 February 1948, so some people who are 78 today were born on a date that only comes round every four years — 78 years old with 19 birthdays behind them rather than 78. The next 29 February is when they have another.
The two candidate years
- Born in 1947from September 25, 1947
- Born in 1948up to September 24, 1948