Is May 21 a rare birthday? Ordinary
More common than 53% of all 366 dates.
May 21 in numbers
The odds, the star sign and the other dates that come with it.
Where May 21 ranks
From most common birthday to rarest, May 21 ranks in position #172, with 10,838 births a year. 194 other dates are rarer. 77 dates are within 1% of its count, anywhere from #139 to #216, so the exact position is a close thing.
May 21 through the years
Where it ranked in the United States, year by year.
common
May 21 in other countries
May 21 is the 172nd most common birthday in the United States. It is not among the 50 most common in any of the 26 other countries, and ranges from #53 in Latvia to #360 in Chile.
Latvia
#53 of 366
57 births on an average May 21
CSB, 1996–2025Portugal
#54 of 366
307 births on an average May 21
INE Portugal, 1980–2025Brazil
#70 of 366
8,496 births on an average May 21
DATASUS, 1997–2024Malaysia
#76 of 366
1,439 births on an average May 21
DOSM, 2000–2022Norway
#81 of 366
165 births on an average May 21
SSB, 2011–2025Ireland
#92 of 366
171 births on an average May 21
CSO, 1980–2023Argentina
#113 of 366
1,586 births on an average May 21
DEIS, 2018–2023Switzerland
#117 of 366
226 births on an average May 21
FSO, 1969–2025England & Wales
#127 of 366
1,805 births on an average May 21
ONS, 1995–2025Hungary
#145 of 366
329 births on an average May 21
KSH, 1970–2020Denmark
#170 of 366
165 births on an average May 21
Statistics Denmark, 2007–2025Ecuador
#173 of 366
766 births on an average May 21
INEC, 2013–2023Peru
#176 of 366
1,204 births on an average May 21
INEI, 2019–2025Japan
#196 of 366
2,772 births on an average May 21
e-Stat, 1996–2025Slovenia
#223 of 366
52 births on an average May 21
SURS, 2000–2025Philippines
#242 of 366
4,340 births on an average May 21
PSA, 2006–2024Guatemala
#245 of 366
930 births on an average May 21
INE Guatemala, 2018–2024France
#263 of 366
2,106 births on an average May 21
INSEE, 1998–2024Finland
#270 of 366
137 births on an average May 21
Statistics Finland, 2010–2025Germany
#276 of 366
1,949 births on an average May 21
Destatis, 2014–2025Netherlands
#312 of 366
482 births on an average May 21
CBS, 1995–2025Costa Rica
#319 of 366
160 births on an average May 21
INEC Costa Rica, 2014–2024New Zealand
#324 of 366
153 births on an average May 21
Stats NZ, 1980–2023Mexico
#325 of 366
4,696 births on an average May 21
INEGI, 2017–2023Belgium
#329 of 366
311 births on an average May 21
Statbel, 1992–2025Chile
#360 of 366
504 births on an average May 21
DEIS, 1990–2017
Famous people born on May 21
Ranked by how often people looked them up on Wikipedia last year.
Josh AllenAmerican football player · born 1996
The Notorious B.I.G.American rapper · born 1972
Chris BenoitCanadian professional wrestler · born 1967
MohanlalIndian actor and filmmaker · born 1960
Mr. TAmerican actor and professional wrestler · born 1952
Noel FieldingBritish actor and comedian · born 1973
Philip II of SpainKing of Spain (1556–1598) and Portugal · born 1527
Fairuza BalkAmerican actress · born 1974May against the other eleven
May 21 is the 10th most common of the 31 days in May. All May birthdays.
May is the 6th most common month of the year
An average May day sees 10,702 births in the United States. September is the busiest month, January the quietest.
Quick answers
How many babies are born on May 21?
About 10,838 a year in the United States. It was at its most common in 1998, when 12,482 babies were born and it ranked #50 of 365; at its rarest in 1972, with 7,368 births at #360.
Is May 21 a common birthday?
In the United States, May 21 is the 172nd most common of 366 dates, with about 10,838 births a year. That makes it an ordinary birthday: neither rare nor especially common.
What is the rarest May birthday?
In the United States, May 27: the 20th rarest of all 366 dates, with about 10,322 births a year. The most common May birthday is May 24, the 105th most common of the year.
How precise is the ranking?
In the middle of the calendar it is not exact. 77 other dates are within 1% of May 21's count, spread from #139 to #216, 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 May 21 rarer in other countries?
In some. It is rarer in 15 of the 26 other countries we hold daily records for. It is at its rarest in Chile, at #360 of 366, and at its most common in Latvia, at #53.
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