This Wednesday (28), South Koreans became younger after a change in the calculation of the ages of the population. The change made people look younger by a year or two, at least, on record.
South Korea had different counting systems for calculating the age of the population: the traditional way and the international norm.
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Thus, the government was facing a lot of criticism for not being able to standardize the ages, since each one was used in specific situations.
The Minister of Government Legislation, Lee Wan-kyu, gave an interview and stated that he hopes the change reduce complaints, confusion and legal disputes generated by Korea's age measurement system South.
Understand how the age of South Koreans was calculated
Before the change, the South Korea he calculated ages with his own system. Thus, people were already one year old when they were born, because of the gestation period which they considered to be one year.
In addition, every January 1, one more year was added to a person's age. An example is that a baby born in December would be two years old in January with the traditional counting system. However, the international calculation was also used in the country since 1960.
Therefore, people had to calculate age in two different systems, with “international age” being used in official documents or medical records.
Only in 2022, the Asian country decided that the international norm would be the official calculation. Even the change was approved by the population, with 86% of citizens saying that they would accept using only the international calculation after the approval of the law.
An interesting fact is that the country has one more age calculation, in addition to the two mentioned, for other legal situations. The government has indicated that it will not withdraw this third count at this time.
This counting system is specific for entering schools, joining the Army and being able to consume alcohol and cigarettes legally.
Finally, South Koreans should prioritize the international age measurement system from now on onwards, but they are likely to continue the traditional form in other contexts, because of the tradition.
