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Born in 1956

If you were born in 1956, you're 69 or 70 in 2026 - and your tti (Korean zodiac animal) is the Red Monkey.

    Your age in 2026
  • International age69 or 70
  • Korean age71
  • Year age70
    • The year 1956
  • tti (Korean zodiac animal)Red Monkey
  • Sexagenary cycleByeong-sin (丙申年)
  • Five element Fire (火)
  • Leap yearLeap year
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Red MonkeyByeong-sin (丙申年) · Fire (火)

In the sexagenary cycle, 1956 is Byeong-sin (丙申年). Its heavenly stem carries the element Fire (火), and that element decides the color - which makes it a year of the Red Monkey (申).

Born 12 years apart - same Monkey
1920age 1061932age 941944age 821968age 581980age 461992age 34

The year you were born: 1956

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

📰 What happened that year
  1. March 2🇲🇦 Morocco gained independence from France and Spain.
  2. March 20🇹🇳 Tunisia gained independence from France.
  3. May 8🌷 South Korea's National Assembly established Mother's Day.
  4. August 15🏛️ President Syngman Rhee began his third term.
  5. September 28🔫 Vice President Chang Myon was shot and slightly wounded by Kim Sang-bong at a Democratic Party convention.
  6. October 23🇭🇺 A revolution against Stalinism broke out in Hungary.
  7. October 29💥 The Suez Crisis erupted.
  8. November 22🏅 The Summer Olympics opened in Melbourne, Australia.
⭐ Born that year
Roh Hoe-chan, politician (d. 2018)Park Chul-soon, baseball playerKim Young-ran, juristTheresa May, British politician and 76th prime minister of the United KingdomTsai Ing-wen, president of TaiwanChristine Lagarde, French lawyer, politician, and IMF managing director
🎬 Films and TV from that year
Film "Madame Freedom"Film "Holiday in Seoul"
🏆 Nobel Prizes that year
  • LiteratureJuan Ramón Jiménez
  • PhysicsJohn Bardeen, Walter Houser Brattain, William Shockley
  • Physiology or MedicineAndré Frédéric Cournand, Werner Forssmann, Dickinson W. Richards
  • ChemistryCyril Norman Hinshelwood, Nikolay Semyonov
  • Peacenot awarded

Source: Wikipedia · retold from the record

Life timeline for people born in 1956 🗓️

What someone born in 1956 becomes eligible for, year by year.

  1. Born
    1956Age 0
  2. Starts elementary school
    1963Age 6 · elementary

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

  3. Starts middle school
    1969Age 12 · middle school
  4. Can take a part-time job
    1971Age 15

    Ages 13-14 can work only with an employment permit (Labor Standards Act).

  5. Starts high school
    1972Age 15 · high school
  6. Gets a resident registration card
    1973Age 17

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

  7. Can get a driver's licence
    1974Age 18

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

  8. Can vote
    1974Age 18

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

  9. Can buy alcohol and tobacco
    1975Year 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
    1975Age 19

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

  11. Military service examination
    1975Year age 19

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

  12. Statutory retirement age
    2016Age 60

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

  13. National Pension starts
    2017Age 61

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

Ages follow international age unless noted. Buying alcohol or tobacco and the military service examination use year age - the calendar year you turn that age - so they can land a year earlier than you expect. School entry, retirement and the National Pension are general rules and can differ case by case.

1956 by the numbers

What Korea's statistics office recorded about 1956.

People born in 1956, as of 2025

652,982people

Source: Statistics Korea - Birth Statistics(1970~2025) and Life Tables(~2024); Ministry of the Interior and Safety - Resident Registration Population(as of 2025) (KOSIS)

Frequently asked questions ❓

In 2026, someone born in 1956 is 70 if they've already had their birthday this year and 69 if they haven't. In Korean age they're 71, and their year age is 70.
Counting from 2026, a 69-year-old was born in 1956.
1956 is the year of the Red Monkey. In the sexagenary cycle it's Byeong-sin (丙申), and because the heavenly stem carries the element Fire (火), the animal picks up the color Red. One catch: the tti turns over at ipchun, around February 4, so a birthday before that counts as the previous year's animal.
Yes. 1956 runs 366 days and February goes all the way to the 29th, so some people born in 1956 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 🌐