Most Common Birthdays: Infographic Shows Number Of Babies Born On Every Day Of The Year

If your child was born on Christmas, you may hear complaints about fewer birthday presents than other kids and more holiday hoo-ha to contend with. (Both most definitely first-world problems.)

As it turns out, Christmas birthdays are not only unfortunate -- they're also almost uniquely uncommon. In fact, December 25 is the least common birthday out of all the days of the year save the one that doesn't even occur annually -- February 29. According to data put together by Harvard's Amitabh Chandra, which the New York Times published in raw form in 2006, it was the least common birth date for more than two decades in the late 20th century; September 16 comes in at the other end of the spectrum, as the most common date for babies to be born.

On Monday, Andy Kriebel of VizWiz pulled all the data and made the below interactive infographic in Tableau. He modeled his version on another heat map of the same figures created over the weekend by NPR's Matt Stiles, but Kriebel's is fully technologically tricked out. Mouse over individual dates below to see exactly where your birthday -- and your kids' -- ranks.

Of course, the designer doesn't include any tips for awkward conversations that might ensue when it dawns on kids who were born on the most popular date what happened nine months earlier. As Gawker points out about using the tool to figure out popular baby-making days: "Let's just say it takes a lot of alcohol to get through the holiday season in one piece."

(H/T Gawker)

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Comments

[Andy Kriebel]

02:40 PM on 05/08/2013

The viz is not displaying. You can download the latest embed code from this link: http://vizwiz.blogspot.com/2012/05/how-common-is-your-birthday-find-out.html

[Mark Brower]

09:33 AM on 01/14/2013

Wow my birthday is January 8th, which is 347th, but I know at least twice as many people that share my birthday as any other birthday. Is there some weird effect that causes people with the same birthday to 'find' each other?

[Titania Tesseract]

06:10 PM on 01/23/2013

You may be right. I was born on the first of a month, and a hugely disproportionate number of people I've dated have been born on the first of their birthmonth. Maybe we instinctively latch onto people we meet who share a trivial commonality with us, like the day of the month they were born on.

[snickerdoodlecupcake]

04:30 PM on 07/10/2012

Well surprise, surprise... mine is 366/366... February 29!

[MG Metiva]

09:34 PM on 07/04/2012

November is a lonely month with no day higher than 131st.

[Kimberly Brooks Ramsey]

05:22 PM on 06/12/2012

My birthday is New Years Day. My son's is Christmas Day and my mother's is Christmas Eve. Do you know what the odds are on that?

[Jeepney]

08:51 PM on 10/01/2012

Wow that is way too much Capricorn. You guys bore each other?

[candlesmp]

10:33 PM on 05/22/2012

I'm not surprised at where my birthday falls. couples always get busy around the christmas/holiday season and wham bam thank you ma'am...September baby...Most of my friends are born within a few weeks of me - from mid august, to late september- except for my best friend - she was born on Jan 1 (one of the most uncommon days to be born).

[Andres Zamora]

07:20 PM on 05/22/2012

Omg. A sept 16th bday here. Not as original as I thunk I was

[Mikkenzie]

10:33 AM on 05/22/2012

346/366 and mine's even more rare b/c it was Good Friday, the 13th :)
It fell there again at 11, 22, and now won't happen again until my 84th birthday! Plus it was the last day of a full moon :)
My stepson's is much more common, but he was also born on Friday the 13th, which is not so common :)

[Chica Cansada]

03:15 PM on 05/21/2012

I think the reason for those special dates with less birthdays is because of scheduled c-sections and scheduled inductions. Even 39 years ago, both me and my sister were induced deliveries. My sister was born on December 27. Her doctor was going to schedule her for the 23, but my mother chose not to because she wanted to be home for Christmas. so they scheduled it for the 26th, and she was born on the 27th. I also don't think they are as rare as people think. I personally have two very close friends who were born on January 1st, and another very close friend who has her daughter on January 1st. That's 3 people in my close circle of friends. Is it just a coincidence for me? As for the babies born in the later months. My mother and her 4 brothers were all born between the end of September to the beginning of November. We live in a very cold climate so I'd say my grandparents were just trying to stay warm during our freezing winter from December to March. LOL!

[Nick Lahanas]

02:58 PM on 05/20/2012

I was born on Dec. 25th.

Yay?

[Jenny Hernandez]

08:22 PM on 10/25/2012

I was born on Dec. 26th. Birthdays suck! Everyone is hung-over and no one wants to party till new years...

[infmom]

02:34 PM on 05/19/2012

Lots of babies born in September = lots of people whooping it up on New Year's Eve. :)

[Taio1247]

03:11 PM on 05/19/2012

As human gestation is 10 mnths its more like lots of ppl whooping it up around thanksgiving

[minvo]

07:39 AM on 05/21/2012

No, it's not 10 months. Science calculates human gestation to be approximately 40 weeks, starting from the first day of a woman's last period. In other words, approximately the first 2 weeks a woman is considered pregnant she is not actually pregnant (i.e., the time between first day of last period and ovulation/conception).

So, even if you count the full 40 weeks (2 of which she isn't really pregnant), that translates to being pregnant for about 9 months and 1 week. Counting from conception, pregnancy lasts about 8 months 3 weeks. For example, a woman who conceives on December 31 would have a due date of September 22. As such, a lot of September babies really does = a lot of people getting frisky on New Year's Eve :)

[TiffLO]

11:49 AM on 05/23/2012

10 lunar months, which are 4 weeks, which also includes the two weeks before she was pregnant. You're either 12 or a boy.

[kslav]

09:24 AM on 05/19/2012

My son was born on the 4th of July. I think that it is only in the bottom 5 because of doctors going out of town, so they schedule inducements before. It is actually a good birthday, there is always a celebration and most jobs he won't have to work on his birthday!

[jsgaetano]

12:31 AM on 05/19/2012

Isn't it odd there's so many births both before and after Christmas, and a huge desert between? Is that because of induced labor (or C-Section?)

[Raquel Lazar]

10:31 PM on 05/21/2012

Yes, I was due around Christmas, spent a few hours at the hospital a couple of days before the holiday watching one woman after another being sent in for induction. Doctors don't want to work on Christmas, so they make up excuses to unsuspecting women that their babies NEED to come out. Bad for the moms, and bad for the babies.

[Lisa Torres]

02:04 PM on 05/18/2012

I was born on jan. 13. All but 1 of my friends wish me HBD. She wishes me the day before or after. Lucky for her, her's is on April 1 a.k.a. April Fools day. I get to call her a fool or wish her the day after. :-)

[jsgaetano]

12:23 AM on 05/19/2012

You've just made three bad mistakes: you just left your name, picture, and birth day on a public web site. That's all someone needs for identity theft, because they can just research the rest.

[Lisa Torres]

03:56 PM on 05/19/2012

First off: not my real name. Two: I counted at least several other the people who did the same thing, and yet you pick on me. And before you say it it was an "advice" or anything along that line please be aware it's not needed. Have a nice day. :-)

[Celeste Simpson]

06:25 AM on 05/22/2012

shut up

[Sue She]

11:35 PM on 05/17/2012

my brother was born on Christmas day

[Jason-n-Ohio]

12:39 AM on 05/19/2012

My grandmother died on Christmas day. We continued eating...

[MJinCanada]

02:11 PM on 05/19/2012

My aunt's birthday is on Christmas Day, her husband's is on Boxing Day. They make the holidays an extra big party to make up for it.

One of the former Canadian prime ministers, Pierre Trudeau, married and started a family while in office. His two older sons were both born on Christmas day, 2 years apart. When the second one was born, the comedians made jokes that he was trying to one-up God.