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Born in 1974

A closer look at your age if you were born in 1974.

    Your age
  • International age51 or 52
  • Korean age53
  • Year age52
    • Zodiac and cycle
  • tti (Korean zodiac animal)Blue Tiger
  • Sexagenary cycleGap-in (甲寅年)
  • Five element Wood (木)
  • Leap yearCommon year
Other Tiger years
1938age 87-881950age 75-761962age 63-641986age 39-401998age 27-282010age 15-16

Life timeline for people born in 1974 🗓️

Key milestones by age, year by year.

  1. Born
    1974Age 0
  2. Starts elementary school
    1981Age 6-7 · elementary

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

  3. Starts middle school
    1987Age 12-13 · middle school
  4. Can take a part-time job
    1989Age 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
    1990Age 15-16 · high school
  6. Gets a resident registration card
    1991Age 17

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

  7. Can get a driver's licence
    1992Age 18

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

  8. Can vote
    1992Age 18

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

  9. Can buy alcohol and tobacco
    1993Year 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
    1993Age 19

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

  11. Military service examination
    1993Year age 19

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

  12. Statutory retirement ageUpcoming
    2034Age 60

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

  13. National Pension startsUpcoming
    2039Age 65

    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: 1974

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

📰 What happened that year
  1. January 8⚖️ Emergency Decrees No. 1 and No. 2 were issued.
  2. April 25🇵🇹 The Carnation Revolution took place.
  3. May 18☢️ India carried out a nuclear test in the Thar Desert of western Rajasthan.
  4. August 9🏛️ Richard Nixon resigned as U.S. president over Watergate, and Vice President Gerald Ford was sworn in as the 38th president.
  5. August 15🕯️ At a Liberation Day ceremony in Seoul, Mun Se-gwang, a Korean resident of Japan with ties to the pro-North Korean group Chongryon, tried to assassinate President Park Chung-hee and killed his wife, Yuk Young-soo.
  6. November 15🚧 U.N. Command announced that it had found the First Infiltration Tunnel in the demilitarized zone near Panmunjom.
  7. November 24🦴 Lucy, an ancestor of Homo sapiens, was discovered in Ethiopia.
  8. November 27✊ The Declaration for the Restoration of Democracy was issued.
🎬 Films and TV from that year
Film "Heavenly Homecoming to Stars"Film "The Land"Film "The Car That Runs on Water"

Source: Wikipedia · retold from the record

1974 by the numbers

Population and other key statistics.

  • Births in 1974922,823
  • Registered residents in 2025844,025

91% of that year's babies are still here with us. ✨

  • Life expectancy at birth63.9 yrsMen 60 · Women 67.8Born in 2024: 83.7 yrs
  • Births per woman3.77Children per woman over a lifetimeIn 2025: 0.8
  • Sex ratio at birth109.4109.4 boys per 100 girls

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

Famous people born in 1974 ⭐

Moon So-riActorJuly 2, 1974 · 52 years oldShin Ha-kyunActor, Voice actorMay 30, 1974 · 52 years oldKim Jung-eunActorMarch 4, 1974 · 52 years oldKim Byung-chulActorJuly 5, 1974 · 52 years oldByun Jung-sooActor, ModelApril 15, 1974 · 52 years oldSong Seon-miActorSeptember 13, 1974 · 52 years oldOh Na-raActorOctober 26, 1974 · 51 years oldJoo Jin-moActorAugust 11, 1974 · 52 years old
Everyone born in 1974
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Frequently asked questions ❓

In 2026, someone born in 1974 is 52 if they've already had their birthday this year and 51 if they haven't. In Korean age they're 53, and their year age is 52.
Counting from 2026, a 51-year-old was born in 1974.
1974 is the year of the Blue Tiger. In the sexagenary cycle it's Gap-in (甲寅), and because the heavenly stem carries the element Wood (木), the animal picks up the color Blue. One catch: the tti turns over at ipchun, around February 4, so a birthday before that counts as the previous year's animal.
No. 1974 is a common year - 365 days, and February ends on the 28th.
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 🌐