Age calculator

What “exact age” means

Your exact age is the number of whole years, months and days from your date of birth to a given date. A month is complete on the same date in the next month (15 Aug to 15 Sep), whatever its length. When that date doesn’t exist, such as 31 February, the month ends on the last day of the shorter month. A person born on 29 February completes a year on 28 February in other years. Total days count every real calendar day, leap days included.

The “age on” date can be any date. Use today to see how old you are, or the cut-off date in an exam notification, a job advertisement or a school admission form.

Priya’s exam form in Villupuram

Priya was born on 20 May 2001 in Villupuram. She is applying for a central government exam whose notice says candidates must be 21 to 32 years old on 1 August 2027, with 3 years of relaxation for OBC candidates.

With Am I eligible?, the tool shows she will be 26 years, 2 months, 12 days old on 1 Aug 2027: eligible. The notice’s own line, “born not earlier than 2 August 1992 and not later than 1 August 2006”, appears as Born between when she picks OBC +3 (32 + 3 = 35 years). Her friend Arun, born on 10 March 1994, is 33 on the cut-off date: outside the general limit, but within it with the OBC relaxation.

How the age limit is read

Most notifications, including the UPSC Civil Services rules, say a candidate must have attained the lower age and must not have attained the upper age on the cut-off date. So with a 21–32 limit, a person who turns 32 exactly on the cut-off date is not eligible, and the youngest eligible person turned 21 on or before it. That is why the range reads “born not earlier than 2 August” and “not later than 1 August”. Relaxation is added to the upper age only.

The usual central government relaxations are 3 years for OBC (non-creamy layer), 5 for SC and ST, and 10 for persons with benchmark disabilities (13 for OBC and 15 for SC/ST candidates with disabilities). Ex-servicemen, widows and state government jobs have their own rules, and TNPSC uses different limits for different groups. Always check the notification itself.

School admission age

The Union Ministry of Education asked states in February 2023 to set 6 years as the minimum age for Class 1, in line with the National Education Policy 2020 and the Right to Education Act. That puts Nursery at 3, LKG at 4 and UKG at 5. The date the age is counted on differs: Delhi uses 31 March, Goa and some Karnataka schools use 1 June, and Tamil Nadu has used 31 July for Class 1. Turn on School admission, pick the year and the date, and the tool shows the child’s age then and the class it fits.

What the tool also shows

• Life milestones: your 18th birthday, 10,000 days (about 27 years 4 months), one billion seconds (11,574 days, about 31 years 8 months), 20,000 days, your 60th birthday (senior-citizen rates at most banks), 25,000 days and your 80th birthday (the very senior citizen age in Indian income tax).
• Your next 10 birthdays with their weekdays, handy for planning a party or leave.
• Age gap between two people, in years, months and days, plus the gap in days.
• Planet ages, just for fun: on Mercury, a year is 88 Earth days.

Common mistakes

• Counting age in calendar years only. 2027 − 2001 = 26 ignores the month. A person born in December 2001 is still 25 on 1 Aug 2027.
• Using today instead of the cut-off date. Exam eligibility is judged on the notice’s date, not on the day you apply.
• Reading the upper limit as “up to and including”. Under the usual wording, reaching the upper age on the cut-off date puts you out.
• Assuming one relaxation for all. Relaxations differ by exam, by state and by category. The tool’s chips are a guide.
• Typing the date in the wrong order. 05-08 can be 5 August or 8 May. Use the calendar to pick the date.