The most common birthday in New Zealand is September 29, 40 weeks after Christmas
This story was first published in March.
It's true. The statistics bear it out. New Zealand babies are far more likely to be conceived on or around Christmas than at any other time of the year.
According to numbers complied by Statistics New Zealand covering births from 1980-2017, the most common birthday in New Zealand is September 29.
An average full-term pregnancy is 40 weeks; this date is 40 weeks and one day after Christmas.
If you were born on that day you share with the likes of singer Jenny Morris, politician Tau Henare, netballer Joline Henry... and tens of thousands of other New Zealanders.
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In further evidence that the Christmas season really gets us in the festive spirit, the top ten most common birthdays in New Zealand all fall between September 24 and October 4.
On that, we're bang on-trend, if you'll pardon the pun. While the exact date differs, September is the most common month for births in countries including the US, UK and Australia, and September 29 is celebrated by the likes of comedian Robert Webb, singer Halsey, and politician Julia Gillard.
After February 29 - unsurprisingly the least common birthdate given it only happens once every four years - the least likely day to be born in New Zealand is December 25, Christmas Day, followed by Boxing Day.
January 1 is number 363 of 366, while January 2 is 362.
But the explanation for this goes deeper than when Kiwis are most likely to be getting busy.
Close to 20 per cent of women giving birth in New Zealand have an elective caesarean, which usually means they choose the date their baby will be born in advance. Most people won't choose a public holiday, either because they don't want their child to have their birthday on an already significant date or because they are dissuaded from doing so (some hospitals don't even book elective c-sections on public holidays).
As further evidence, April 25, ANZAC Day, is number 361, while February 6, Waitangi Day, is 360.
Apart from that cluster of public holidays, the second half of December is actually a fairly common time to be born. It's 40 weeks after the beginning of autumn, after all, as the weather starts to get cooler and the days to get shorter and snuggling on the couch takes over from drinking on the waterfront as the after-work activity of choice.
But the beginning of January is less so. Maybe the end of the financial year, on March 31, isn't very sexy.
Overall, the least likely month in which to be born is June. 14 of its 30 days are ranked in the 300s, while the highest it reaches is 165, on June 8, and even that is something of an anomaly; the next highest rank is 192, on June 25, followed by 210, on June 19.
April and May are also less common birth months, which tells us that, interestingly, the deep winter months of July and August are low-frequency for baby-making.
But the most birthday-dense months of the year, by far, are September and October.
Guess those summer holidays really do put us in a good mood.
Stuff