Over 11,000 Netherlands residents celebrating leap year birthday today

Over 11,000 Netherlands residents are celebrating their birthday today, Leap Day, February 29. Today, some 370 four-year-olds are celebrating their birthday on the actual day of their birth for the first time. Eight people are turning 100, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported.

In a leap year, slightly fewer children are born on the 29th than on a comparable weekday in February, according to the stats office. For example, in 2020, 391 children were born on an average Saturday in February and 362 on Saturday, February 29. A similar difference is also visible in previous leap years.

Leap day is a popular wedding anniversary, however. In 2020, 109 couples got married on Saturday, February 29, compared to 53 on an average Saturday in February 2020. “More marriages also took place on previous leap days than on the same weekday in that month,” CBS said. “Leap Day 2000 was popular: almost three times as many couples got married than on another Tuesday in February that year.”