December 25 had the fewest December births in these historical U.S. records: 138,628 from 1994 through 2014. December 20 had the most, with 253,354. The chart and table below include every December date.
Compare December birthdays
December 25 had the fewest births and December 20 the most among December dates in these U.S. records. Choose two dates to see how far apart they are.
CDC/NCHS + SSA via FiveThirtyEight · 1994–2014 · 85,712,738 births
December 25
- Within December
- #31 of 31
- Across the whole year
- #365 of 366
- Recorded births
- 138,628
- Share of all births
- 0.162%
Both ranks count from most common (#1) to rarest. Ties share a rank.
December 25 had 45.3% fewer births than December 20 (138,628 versus 253,354).
Open December 25 in the birthday checkerAll 31 December birthdays ranked
Month rank compares only December dates. Overall rank compares all 366 dates, including February 29. #1 is most common in both columns.
| Date | Month rank | Overall rank | Births | Share of all births |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 1 | #13 | #137 | 237,160 | 0.277% |
| December 2 | #14 | #148 | 235,990 | 0.275% |
| December 3 | #16 | #166 | 235,077 | 0.274% |
| December 4 | #18 | #224 | 231,793 | 0.270% |
| December 5 | #17 | #167 | 234,986 | 0.274% |
| December 6 | #20 | #234 | 231,084 | 0.270% |
| December 7 | #26 | #320 | 226,439 | 0.264% |
| December 8 | #23 | #274 | 229,572 | 0.268% |
| December 9 | #25 | #290 | 228,743 | 0.267% |
| December 10 | #19 | #233 | 231,087 | 0.270% |
| December 11 | #22 | #264 | 229,817 | 0.268% |
| December 12 | #10 | #99 | 241,615 | 0.282% |
| December 13 | #24 | #286 | 228,959 | 0.267% |
| December 14 | #21 | #240 | 230,859 | 0.269% |
| December 15 | #15 | #150 | 235,882 | 0.275% |
| December 16 | #12 | #111 | 239,301 | 0.279% |
| December 17 | #9 | #93 | 242,325 | 0.283% |
| December 18 | #6 | #52 | 246,454 | 0.288% |
| December 19 | #3 | #17 | 251,948 | 0.294% |
| December 20 | #1 | #11 | 253,354 | 0.296% |
| December 21 | #7 | #54 | 246,261 | 0.287% |
| December 22 | #11 | #107 | 240,078 | 0.280% |
| December 23 | #28 | #351 | 218,051 | 0.254% |
| December 24 | #30 | #363 | 170,166 | 0.199% |
| December 25 | #31 | #365 | 138,628 | 0.162% |
| December 26 | #29 | #360 | 201,577 | 0.235% |
| December 27 | #8 | #56 | 246,214 | 0.287% |
| December 28 | #5 | #28 | 249,921 | 0.292% |
| December 29 | #2 | #16 | 252,082 | 0.294% |
| December 30 | #4 | #23 | 250,577 | 0.292% |
| December 31 | #27 | #348 | 219,101 | 0.256% |
Each December date occurs 21 times in this period, so ranking by births per occurrence gives the same order within this month.
How far apart are December's highest and lowest dates?
December 20 ranks #11 among all 366 birthday dates; December 25 ranks #365. Rank #1 means the most births. December 20 had 82.8% more births than December 25 across the period.
Both dates occurred 21 times, so each had the same number of chances to appear. Select two dates above to see their counts and ranks side by side. The rarest-birthday ranking covers the rest of the year.
What happens around Christmas?
December 24, 25 and 26 together had 31.1% fewer births than December 17, 18 and 19 together. Each date in the first group is exactly one week after its comparison date, so each pair falls on the same weekday within a year.
The records do not tell us why fewer births occurred over those three days. The holiday birth study examines Christmas Day separately, using SSA records and several nearby dates that share its weekday.
Is December 31 a rare birthday?
December 31 had 219,101 recorded births, putting it at #348 of 366. Its total was 12.6% below December 30's. The two dates fall on different weekdays in any given year, so this comparison cannot isolate an effect of New Year's Eve.
Use the birthday checker to compare December 31 with a date outside December. For whole-month comparisons that account for the number of days in each month, see birth months.
How these rankings were calculated
We calculated these figures from U.S. daily birth records compiled by FiveThirtyEight: CDC/NCHS for 1994 through 1999 and SSA for 2000 through 2014. We excluded the overlapping CDC years. December contributes 7,155,101 births.
December rank compares 31 dates, while overall rank compares all 366. Birth share divides a date's count by all births in the dataset, including those outside December. Every December date occurs 21 times, so dividing each count by its occurrences would keep the within-month order unchanged.
These are historical U.S. counts, not a count of living people who share a birthday or a current-year forecast. The source systems differ in administrative coverage. The methodology explains the baseline and ranking rules.
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