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Born in 1940

A closer look at your age if you were born in 1940.

    Your age
  • International age85 or 86
  • Korean age87
  • Year age86
    • Zodiac and cycle
  • tti (Korean zodiac animal)White Dragon
  • Sexagenary cycleGyeong-jin (庚辰年)
  • Five element Metal (金)
  • Leap yearLeap year
Other Dragon years
1904age 121-1221916age 109-1101928age 97-981952age 73-741964age 61-621976age 49-50

Life timeline for people born in 1940 🗓️

Key milestones by age, year by year.

  1. Born
    1940Age 0
  2. Starts elementary school
    1947Age 6-7 · elementary

    The March after turning 6 - Korean school years start in March, not September.

  3. Starts middle school
    1953Age 12-13 · middle school
  4. Can take a part-time job
    1955Age 15

    Under 15, or under 18 and still in middle school, you need an employment permit (Labor Standards Act, Art. 64).

  5. Starts high school
    1956Age 15-16 · high school
  6. Gets a resident registration card
    1957Age 17

    Issued from the first day of the month after turning 17 (Resident Registration Act).

  7. Can get a driver's licence
    1958Age 18

    Class 2 ordinary licence. Mopeds are allowed from 16 (Road Traffic Act).

  8. Can vote
    1958Age 18

    Must be 18 on election day (Public Official Election Act).

  9. Can buy alcohol and tobacco
    1959Year age 19

    From January 1 of the year you turn 19 - this one uses year age, not your birthday (Youth Protection Act).

  10. Legal adulthood
    1959Age 19

    Adulthood begins on the 19th birthday (Civil Act, Article 4).

  11. Military service examination
    1959Year age 19

    Held in the year a man turns 19 (Military Service Act · year age · men only).

  12. Statutory retirement age
    2000Age 60

    The floor employers must set, not a fixed date (Act on Prohibition of Age Discrimination · reference).

  13. National Pension starts
    2000Age 60

    Between 63 and 65 depending on your birth year, with at least 10 years of contributions (National Pension Act · reference).

The year you were born: 1940

Here's what the world was up to that year 👀

📰 What happened that year
  1. February 11🖋️ Japan's colonial government in Korea started the sōshi-kaimei policy, pushing Koreans to take Japanese-style family names.
  2. May 9🇰🇷 Several Korean independence groups merged into the Korean Independence Party, with Kim Ku as its chairman.
  3. May 20🕯️ The Nazis built the Auschwitz concentration camp.
  4. June 14🇫🇷 German troops marched into Paris.
  5. August 11📰 The Chosun Ilbo and the Dong-A Ilbo, Korea's two biggest newspapers, were forced to shut down.
  6. September 17🎖️ The Korean Provisional Government, based in Chongqing, China, founded the Korean Liberation Army.
  7. September 27⚔️ Germany, Italy, and Japan - the three Axis powers - signed the Tripartite Pact in Berlin.
  8. November 5🗳️ Franklin D. Roosevelt won the presidential election and became the first U.S. president elected to a third term.

Source: Wikipedia · retold from the record

1940 by the numbers

Population and other key statistics.

People born in 1940, as of 2025

198,069people

Source: Statistics Korea birth statistics and life tables; Ministry of the Interior and Safety resident population(as of 2025)

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Frequently asked questions ❓

In 2026, someone born in 1940 is 86 if they've already had their birthday this year and 85 if they haven't. In Korean age they're 87, and their year age is 86.
Counting from 2026, a 85-year-old was born in 1940.
1940 is the year of the White Dragon. In the sexagenary cycle it's Gyeong-jin (庚辰), and because the heavenly stem carries the element Metal (金), the animal picks up the color White. One catch: the tti turns over at ipchun, around February 4, so a birthday before that counts as the previous year's animal.
Yes. 1940 runs 366 days and February goes all the way to the 29th, so some people born in 1940 only get a real birthday every four years.
Korean age starts at 1 the day you're born, and everybody adds a year together on January 1 instead of on their birthday. That makes it one or two years higher than international age. Since June 2023, Korean law, contracts, and official documents all use international age, but you'll still hear Korean age in everyday conversation.

Sources 🌐