Data from the Seade Foundation reveal the number of births that occur on this date in the State of São Paulo
By Guilherme Castro Sousa* February has always represented around 8.5% of births registered in the registry offices of the State of São Paulo – Photo: Nakaridore/Freepik
Every four years, with some exceptions, the year gains an extra day, February 29th. This is due to the time it takes the Earth to go around the Sun, which is exactly 365 days, five hours, 48 minutes and 56 seconds. This difference between the annual calendar of 365 days and the Earth’s real translation time, of approximately six hours, accumulated every four years, adds up to 24 hours.
According to data presented by the Seade Foundation, between the years 2000 and 2020, around 3% of births occurred on the 29th in the State of São Paulo. During this period, according to data from Civil Registry offices, there were almost 10 thousand São Paulo residents born on that date. According to a study by the Seade Foundation, in every leap year between 2000 and 2020, February always represented around 8.5% of births registered in the registry offices of the State of São Paulo.
The Declaration of Live Birth, a document provided by the Ministry of Health, which serves as the basis for creating the birth certificate, prohibits registering the birth on a date other than the correct one. All Brazilians must have the exact day, month, year, place and time in their registration – changing it is a crime. This means that a person born on February 29th cannot have their date of birth changed, either by their parents or by themselves. But this does not mean that the date cannot be celebrated, birthday people can celebrate the date on February 28th or March 1st.
Origin
The leap year was introduced in the West in ancient Rome, with the Julian Calendar, established in 45 BC by Julius Caesar. Over the centuries, this calendar was corrected and gradually modified. However, the difference between the calendar year and the Earth’s translation time is five hours, 48 minutes and 56 seconds and not six hours as the leap year calculation suggests. The difference between real time and approximate time leads to a misalignment of dates with the seasons over the centuries.
Therefore, Pope Gregory XIII, in 1582, modified and adjusted the calendar, which became known as the Gregorian Calendar, the calendar we still use today in Brazil and in several other countries. It was in this calendar that February 29th was established as the extra day in the leap year. Most importantly, the misalignment of the civil calendar with the solar year was corrected.
To compensate for the difference between the civil calendar and the translation time of planet Earth, some rules were added to the leap year. The calculation was defined that leap years would be those divisible by four. Years ending in multiples of 100 are not leap years, unless they are divisible by 400. Therefore, the year 2100 will not be a leap year.
*Under the supervision of Cinderela Caldeira and Paulo Capuzzo
Boletim Panorama Paulista is a partnership between Rádio USP and Fundação Seade
Production: Paulo Emira
Co-production – Cinderela Caldeira, Tulio Shiraishi, Julia Estanislau
Edition – USP Radio
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