How do I work out what year I was born from my age?

Take the current year and subtract your age. That is your birth year if you have already had your birthday this year; if your birthday is still to come, subtract one more. In 2026 someone who is 50 was born in 1976 if their birthday has passed and in 1975 if it has not.

What year were you born if you are 18 or 21?

In 2026, an 18-year-old was born in 2008 if they have had their birthday this year, otherwise in 2007. A 21-year-old was born in 2005 after their birthday, otherwise in 2004.

Why does the page use the later year when I am not sure?

Because a poster needs one year. The later year is right for everyone whose birthday has already come this year, which by mid October is roughly four people in five. Pick No if your birthday is still ahead and the poster switches to the earlier year.

Which ages get a poster?

The poster covers birth years 1930 to 2025, so in 2026 every age from 1 to 96 has one (96 only if the birthday has passed, or if you are not sure). Any age still gets its birth year worked out; outside that range the page says so instead of drawing a poster.

Is anything I type sent anywhere?

No. The arithmetic and the poster are done by this page in your browser; the only file it fetches is the facts file for the year shown, from polyatic.com itself. Your age is not stored.

What year was I born? Type your age and get the year, plus a free poster

Your age and one yes/no question give the exact birth year. The printable poster of that year opens below, already titled for the birthday. Nothing you type is uploaded.

Your age today

Has your birthday passed this year?

If you are 50 today you were born in 1975 or 1976: in 1976 if you have already had your birthday this year, otherwise in 1975.

Your 1976 poster

The same poster as the year-you-were-born maker: people born that year, its dated events, the No. 1 song, the year in culture and what things cost, with your title on top.

Title line

Paper

Include disasters, attacks and wars

Open the full poster maker →

The full maker adds an exact birth date (that day's events and the weekday), a name line, the US, UK, German or French chart, other countries' prices, eight print sizes from A4 to 50 × 70 cm, a dark, vintage or newspaper style, a folded card and a party quiz.

Nothing is uploaded, nothing is stored. The year is worked out by this page from your device's own date, and the poster and PDF are drawn in your browser from one facts file served by polyatic.com. No account.

How the birth year is worked out

Your age counts the birthdays you have had. So the year you were born is this year minus your age, but only once this year's birthday has come. Until then you are still the age you turned last year, and the birth year is one earlier. That is why an age alone always gives two possible years, one apart, and why the page asks a single yes/no question.

A worked example on 15 October 2026: Sam is 50. If Sam was born in March, the birthday has passed, so 2026 − 50 = 1976. If Sam's birthday is on 20 December, it has not happened yet, so it is 2026 − 50 − 1 = 1975, and Sam turns 51 in December. A birthday that is today counts as passed.

When you are not sure, the page puts the later year on the poster and tells you so. How likely that is to be right depends on the date. On 15 October, 288 of 2026's 365 days have gone, so if birthdays were spread evenly about 79 in 100 people of any age have already had theirs. In early January it is the other way round, and the earlier year is the safer guess; the line under the answer gives today's share. Births are not perfectly even across the year (in the US, late summer and early autumn are the busiest), but the gap between months is only a few per cent either way.

The date comes from your own device's clock, so on New Year's Eve in one time zone and New Year's Day in another the answer moves with your calendar, as it should. The poster covers birth years 1930 to 2025: in 2026 that is every age from 1 to 96. Older or younger ages still get the arithmetic, with a plain note in place of the poster.

Milestone birthdays and the poster

The title line is set to the birthday itself, with the right English ending: Happy 21st, Happy 22nd, Happy 23rd, but Happy 11th, 12th and 13th. Change it to a name ("Happy 60th, Dad") before you download.

Disasters, attacks and wars are left off the poster unless you tick Include disasters, attacks and wars: a 50th in 2026 would otherwise print the Soweto uprising, the Entebbe raid and the Tangshan earthquake on a 1976 birthday poster. The poster keeps the year's best-known other events instead (the US Bicentennial, the Judgment of Paris wine tasting, the Montreal Olympics), and the tick travels with the link to the full maker as grim=1.

18 and 21 are the coming-of-age birthdays: in 2026 that means a 2008 or 2007 poster, and a 2005 or 2004 one. The births list on recent years is shorter (people born in 2005 are only now becoming known), so these posters lean more on the year's events, film and No. 1 song.

For 30, 40 and 50 the poster works as a party table centrepiece: print it on A4 for a frame, or open the full maker for 50 × 70 cm. The maker's party quiz style turns the same year into twelve questions with the answers on a second page, which suits a 40th or 50th where guests grew up in that year.

60 and 70 fall in 1966/1965 and 1956/1955 in 2026, the years when the prices block is most fun to read aloud: what a house, bread or petrol cost then, with what that sum buys today. If you know the exact birth date, the full maker adds what happened on that very day.

One honest limit: the poster is about the year, not about a person. It lists famous people born that year and dated world events from Wikidata and Wikipedia; it does not know anything about the person whose birthday it is.