How Your Birth Month Impacts Your Success

Some corrections and remarks based on input from comments: 1. If you were born in the later months of the year that does NOT mean you can't be as successful as people born in the earlier months. It means that the relative age disadvantage you've had to face during your childhood might have made it harder to succeed in sports and school. There are plenty of elite athletes born in December (e.g Kylian Mbappé) and that didn't stop them. 2. A lot of comments are mentioning the book Outliers by Malcolm and asking why it was not mentioned in the video. Even though the Relative Age Effect was popularized by the book, the RAE has been studied since the 1960s. Most of the research for this video was based on scientific literature. 3. 03:24 - The label should spell '27% less', not '28% less'. 4. 04:55 - Contrary to what I mentioned, the school age cut-off in Portugal is actually September 16 (and not December 31) for most schools/students. In my school, it was Dec 31 for most students though. 5. 06:37 - "In Sports, children should be selected based on skill, not on size or strength". This was poorly phrased and not exactly true because: A) older kids are (on average) more skilled; B) body size matters in many sports. The message I tried to explain is that coaches should take into account that December children are 11 months behind January kids in growth. When they select an older child over a younger one, they should try to make sure the advantage is not only due to the age difference.

Now I can blame all my personal failures on this. Thank you!

Don't know how to feel about being born in December now.

"Life is fair" Also life :

This problem can be easily minimized by separating the class by semester instead of year, so the difference between students would be a maximum of 6 months instead of almost 12, in fact we could divide most periods better if we divided them into periods with less months. , but 6 months is something easier to do and doesn't add much cost, and sports and university selections can be done more or less every 6 months too, this would improve mental, physical and financial health, reduce bullying, increase companionship in general population.

For those who were born in later months: you are not dumb or weak just because you weren't born in earlier months and you still can have a successful life and career so don't get discouraged because of this!

I was born in december but I started school one year late so I have always been one of the oldest people in class, and I can absolutely see the difference between the performance of the younger vs the older kids in class, even though we're only a few months apart

As someone born in February (which is the second best month according to this data) I couldn't possibly say I have a lot or any of the attributes listed in this video. I know pretty successful people born late into the year and they seem to be doing just fine. The truth is to focus on bettering yourself. Don't worry the "data." It's true, not everything that happens in your life can be controlled by you... but what you can control is how you react to those circumstances, that's the test of character. Don't let some video demoralize you because you happen to be born in the fall of '04 or something

Bro took zodiac signs wayyyy too far 💀

The underdog hypothesis is also true. When young football players are scouted from poorer countries, I remember seeing stats that the youngest siblings and kids were usually indexed higher in ability/promise. From a lifetime of having to play against older kids and develop faster

One thing perhaps quite unscientific I've noticed that this video never mentioned is that the festive seasons are between Sep-Jan and those typically lead to more unplanned parenthood. Instinct tells me not only January babies have more mentally developed brains than those in the same academic year group, they are more likely conceived in the more boring months of the year, which implies they are more likely the results of planned parenthood. Parents who plan their families are more likely to have better time management and budgetting skills, which is why they can most definitely afford children in the first place. Those skills and intelligence are passed onto their children through home education, observation and genetics, so they are more likely to be successful. Referring back to the bar chart at the beginning, those conceived during festive seasons do seem to have the lowest success. This is probably unscientific because I'm not a social scientist, but does anyone else share the same thought?

The stats are actually insane, I thought that was a thing but not to that extend, really cool video

Well, I want to share my experience. I was born on November and went to school on age 5, where standart school age is 6. I was younger one on my class. Due to this, I was younger on my university too and eventually the place where I was worked. I got my first job as category assitant when I was 21 years old, where younger one besides me is 24 years old. At first, I was unhappy about it, but then after time passed and I got promoted I feel different. I'm currently 28 years old and work as Advisor to CEO. The young one on top position whefe older ones are under my position. Morale of history, success is not on the age, but in yourself. Little edit: I also got to work as outsource business consultant to other company and MBA teacher at university.

I live in the US and I was born in August. Our cutoff for grade levels is September 1 and so I was almost always the youngest in my classes. I was usually smaller than the rest of them and felt less developed mentally too. The only way I managed to keep up was by being better academically and trying harder to be better in the activities I did. Even now that I’ve graduated college and have a job, I still feel the impacts of being the youngest of my work groups

i’m one of the youngest kids in my class, born just two weeks before the cut-off date. something i’ve always noticed is that a high portion of the people in advanced classes are those who are older. (10-11 months older than me). Many of my classmates could get drivers licenses, work, and vote before me, which impacted our social statuses differently. but if you are younger in your grade like me, don’t despair! we have lots of life to live. i am taking a gap year before college and will enter college at a similar age that my classmates are entering now🤷‍♀️ which is also a privilege in my opinion

As someone born in September and school starts in August, I see this as a win

i am a January kid, and ive been always the youngest in my classes (i live in eastern europe) but i already could read and write when i went to first grade. i always thought this was an advantage, because i already had my bachelors degree at 21, also you can learn more usually surrounded with older people so i soaked up all the knowladge lol. my dad was also older and i learned a lot from him, wrote my first html code at 12, and now i have an awesome carrier in IT. so younger folks who are born later in the year according to this video dont worry, you can also benefit from it! :3

I think there is a lot to this. I was born in September, and all through school was always just about the youngest in my grade. Even in middle and high school, one year can make a difference in your physical development. This doesn't matter just for sports--guys are bigger and stronger, girls are more physically developed, which makes you more attractive to others as friends and as a romantic interest. I'm from the US and getting your driver's license a year earlier makes a difference in your independence and social life. My school years weren't bad, but now that I'm aware of this I do wonder how they'd have been different if I'd been born one month later (and therefore been one grade later in school).

I love being a December kid. It’s nice knowing that despite your comparative disadvantage, you still managed to succeed and exceed your peers. Really helps solidify the fact that you really are better than them. Edit: the academic year where I’m from starts jan 1. So the later in the year that you’re born in, the larger your “disadvantage”. Not that it really mattered tbh…..

Most of my classmates are 1 year older than me. But I tend to still do well in school. As long as one works hard, I believe that small disadvantages like this will be left redundant.