Peak birthday season: more NL celebrations today than any other

More people in the Netherlands are celebrating their birthday on Wednesday than on any other day of the year, with some 44,000 sharing September 30, according to national statistics office CBS.

On average, 41,000 people in the Netherlands have a birthday every day. The number peaks in late September and early May.

The figures are taken from over 15 million people who were born in the country and whose birth is officially registered with a local council. Those born abroad are not included.

Apart from leap day, New Year’s Day is the least common birthday. Christmas, Sinterklaas, and Liberation Day also have relatively few. The CBS said this may be because planned births, such as caesarean sections, are less often scheduled on holidays.

Birth patterns have also shifted over time. People born between 1940 and 1980 were more often born in spring, while summer and late-summer birthdays are more common among those born since 1980.

The CBS said the arrival of the contraceptive pill in the 1960s, which made pregnancies easier to plan, may explain the change.