Is December 17 a rare birthday? Ordinary
More common than 67% of all 366 dates.
December 17 in numbers
The odds, the star sign and the other dates that come with it.
Where December 17 ranks
From most common birthday to rarest, December 17 ranks in position #122, with 10,988 births a year. 244 other dates are rarer. 44 dates are within 1% of its count, anywhere from #110 to #154, so the exact position is a close thing.
December 17 through the years
Where it ranked in the United States, year by year.
common
December 17 in other countries
December 17 is the 122nd most common birthday in the United States. It is among the 50 most common in 2 of the 26 other countries, and ranges from #33 in Portugal to #343 in Norway.
Portugal
#33 of 366
310 births on an average December 17
INE Portugal, 1980–2025New Zealand
#36 of 366
164 births on an average December 17
Stats NZ, 1980–2023Ireland
#57 of 366
173 births on an average December 17
CSO, 1980–2023France
#59 of 366
2,221 births on an average December 17
INSEE, 1998–2024Costa Rica
#90 of 366
175 births on an average December 17
INEC Costa Rica, 2014–2024Chile
#100 of 366
701 births on an average December 17
DEIS, 1990–2017Belgium
#113 of 366
333 births on an average December 17
Statbel, 1992–2025Hungary
#151 of 366
329 births on an average December 17
KSH, 1970–2020Philippines
#154 of 366
4,512 births on an average December 17
PSA, 2006–2024Japan
#173 of 366
2,784 births on an average December 17
e-Stat, 1996–2025Latvia
#205 of 366
53 births on an average December 17
CSB, 1996–2025England & Wales
#207 of 366
1,776 births on an average December 17
ONS, 1995–2025Mexico
#227 of 366
4,926 births on an average December 17
INEGI, 2017–2023Argentina
#234 of 366
1,468 births on an average December 17
DEIS, 2018–2023Switzerland
#275 of 366
216 births on an average December 17
FSO, 1969–2025Guatemala
#276 of 366
921 births on an average December 17
INE Guatemala, 2018–2024Brazil
#283 of 366
7,613 births on an average December 17
DATASUS, 1997–2024Slovenia
#287 of 366
50 births on an average December 17
SURS, 2000–2025Peru
#306 of 366
1,138 births on an average December 17
INEI, 2019–2025Germany
#315 of 366
1,923 births on an average December 17
Destatis, 2014–2025Malaysia
#321 of 366
1,344 births on an average December 17
DOSM, 2000–2022Netherlands
#330 of 366
478 births on an average December 17
CBS, 1995–2025Ecuador
#331 of 366
711 births on an average December 17
INEC, 2013–2023Finland
#334 of 366
131 births on an average December 17
Statistics Finland, 2010–2025Denmark
#341 of 366
153 births on an average December 17
Statistics Denmark, 2007–2025Norway
#343 of 366
130 births on an average December 17
SSB, 2011–2025
Famous people born on December 17
Ranked by how often people looked them up on Wikipedia last year.
Pope FrancisHead of the Catholic Church from 2013 to 2025 · born 1936
Sarah PaulsonAmerican actress · born 1974
Milla JovovichAmerican actress · born 1975
Manny PacquiaoFilipino boxer and politician · born 1978
Bill PullmanAmerican actor · born 1953
Eugene LevyCanadian actor and comedian · born 1946
Claire ForlaniBritish actress · born 1971
Simo HäyhäFinnish military sniper · born 1905December against the other eleven
December 17 is the 9th most common of the 31 days in December. All December birthdays.
December is the 4th rarest month of the year
An average December day sees 10,633 births in the United States. September is the busiest month, January the quietest.
Quick answers
How many babies are born on December 17?
About 10,988 a year in the United States. It was at its most common in 1976, when 9,890 babies were born and it ranked #16 of 366; at its rarest in 1995, with 7,759 births at #354.
Is December 17 a common birthday?
In the United States, December 17 is the 122nd most common of 366 dates, with about 10,988 births a year. That makes it an ordinary birthday: neither rare nor especially common.
What is the rarest December birthday?
In the United States, December 25: the rarest of all 366 dates, with about 6,546 births a year. The most common December birthday is December 28, the 6th most common of the year.
How precise is the ranking?
In the middle of the calendar it is not exact. 44 other dates are within 1% of December 17's count, spread from #110 to #154, so the position inside that group would shift with a different set of years. That band is the accurate answer; the rank is the simple one. At the ends — Christmas Day, New Year's Day — nothing is close.
Is December 17 rarer in other countries?
In some. It is rarer in 19 of the 26 other countries we hold daily records for. It is at its rarest in Norway, at #343 of 366, and at its most common in Portugal, at #33.
How this is counted
Every date is ranked by how many babies are born on it in the United States. Live births by day of birth from the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, 1989–2024.
Updated October 2026