Leap Year Facts
Leap year only comes around every four years.
Without leap years, every four years, the calendar wouldn’t run as well as it should. Without leap years, we would lose 6 hours every year, and after 100 years, our calendar would be 24 days off.
The ancient Egyptians started toying with leap days; Julius Caesar officially started leap years, with the first being in 46 B.C.
Leap years are not the same around the globe. The Chinese calendar adds an entire leap month every three years. In Ethiopia, they add the leap day to the last month of the year every 4 years.
People born on a leap day are called “leaplings or leapers” and can celebrate their birthdays on non-leap years, either March 1 or February 28.
Summer Olympics happen during leap years.
There are about 4 million people around the world who are leaplings.
The current Guinness World Record for generations born on a leap day is 3. One family has three generations of births on leap days.
Leap Day was the original Sadie Hawkins Day or a day when it was deemed socially appropriate for women to propose to men.
