Korean age calculator
Korea counts age three different ways and all three are still in use. Here are all of them, and which one someone means when they ask.
33 years old
The legal default since June 2023. Contracts, hospitals and benefits all use this one.
33
Alcohol, tobacco and military service
34
What people say out loud
You have already had your birthday this year, so international age and year age match.
How old you are in Korea in 2026
| Born in | International | Year age | Korean age |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | 65 / 66 | 66 | 67 |
| 1970 | 55 / 56 | 56 | 57 |
| 1980 | 45 / 46 | 46 | 47 |
| 1990 | 35 / 36 | 36 | 37 |
| 1995 | 30 / 31 | 31 | 32 |
| 2000 | 25 / 26 | 26 | 27 |
| 2005 | 20 / 21 | 21 | 22 |
| 2010 | 15 / 16 | 16 | 17 |
International age shows two numbers because it depends on your birthday: the first is before it, the second after. The other two ignore your birthday entirely.
The three ages, and who uses which
International age (만 나이) is what you are used to: zero at birth, plus one on each birthday. Since June 2023 this is the legal default in Korea — contracts, medical records, pensions and benefits all read this way.
Korean age (세는 나이) starts at one the day you are born and adds a year every 1 January. Your birthday has nothing to do with it. It is one or two years higher than your international age, and it is what people say when they talk.
Year age (연 나이) is simply this year minus your birth year. It sits between the other two and survives in two specific laws.
Why your Korean age can be two years higher
Because both systems count from different starting points, and one of them jumps on New Year rather than on your birthday.
Take someone born on 31 December. They are one year old on the day they are born, and two years old the next morning. One day lived, two years old in Korean age. Their international age is zero.
For most of the year the gap is one; between 1 January and your birthday it is two. That is why Koreans ask what year you were born rather than how old you are. The birth year is the only number that never shifts.
What changed in June 2023
On 28 June 2023 Korea unified legal and administrative age on the international system. Before that, the same person could have a different age on different forms, and anything decided by age kept coming out inconsistent.
What changed is the default reading. When a law states an age without saying which system, it now means international age. For almost everything official, international age is the only number you need.
What did not change is how people speak. Korean age is still what you will hear at a first meeting, and it still decides who addresses whom as the elder.
Alcohol and tobacco still use year age
Two laws kept the old system: the Youth Protection Act and the Military Service Act. Both go by birth year and ignore your birthday.
So buying alcohol or cigarettes is decided by year age 19, not international age. In 2026 that means anyone born in 2007 can buy, birthday or not — and someone born in 2008 cannot, even after turning 19.
Starting primary school and military examination notices work the same way, off the birth year. This is exactly why the year age column above is worth a look.
Answering “how old are you?” in Korea
If it is a form, a hospital or a contract, give your international age. That is what the paperwork expects.
If it is a person, the easiest answer is your birth year — “I was born in 1993.” It sidesteps the whole problem and it is what they were going to ask next anyway.
Counting a date range or working out a milestone instead? The rest of the site covers Korean units and bills, and the Korean pages have date calculators for anniversaries and due dates.