KLIFEMAP.AI

Korean age calculator 2026
— your age, zodiac animal and ganzhi, by birth year

Your birth year is all you need. One row per year on a 2026 basis: international age, Korean age, zodiac animal and the sixty-year ganzhi.

Korea counts age three different ways

We are not saying which one is correct. All three are still in use in Korea today, and each is used in its own place.

Find your birth year (on a 2026 basis)

International age differs by one depending on whether your birthday has passed, so both columns are given. The zodiac animal and the ganzhi are computed by our engine, not typed in by hand. The table is long and scrolls within the frame.

When does the zodiac animal change? January and early February are the catch

The animal in the table above is assigned by calendar year of birth. But Korea does not agree on where the year turns for this purpose.

• Seollal (lunar new year) — used in folk custom
• Ipchun (around 4 February) — this is what saju uses

If you were born between January and early February, your animal depends on which boundary is used — and so does the year pillar of your chart. Enter your date in the perpetual calendar and we compute it on the ipchun boundary.

What is the ganzhi column?

The last column is the sexagenary cycle. Ten heavenly stems mesh with twelve earthly branches, so the same name comes round every sixty years.

The ganzhi of your birth year is the first of the four pillars in your chart — the year pillar. It is also why the sixtieth birthday (hwangap) is marked in Korea: your birth-year ganzhi has come back round. The full table is on the sexagenary cycle page.

Common questions

Did the 2023 law make every age an international age?

No. Since 28 June 2023, an age in law or administration is read as the international age unless a rule says otherwise. Systems that were specifically written around the calendar-year age — military service, school entry — are unchanged.

Why is the Korean age sometimes two years higher?

Korean age is 1 at birth and gains another year when the calendar year turns. So someone born in December turns 2 within a month. Before their birthday, that is two years above their international age.

How does saju count age?

Saju looks at the day and hour you were born rather than your age. Age enters at one place: the ten-year luck cycles (daeun). The age at which they start differs from person to person, set by the birth month and sex.