Leap Year Calculator
Enter a year and find out if it is a leap year. Leap years have 366 days and include February 29 to keep our calendar in sync with the Earth's orbit.
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What is a Leap Year?
A leap year is a year that contains an extra day, making it 366 days long instead of the usual 365. This additional day is added to the calendar in February, as February 29th. The purpose of a leap year is to keep our modern Gregorian calendar aligned with the Earth's revolutions around the Sun. It takes the Earth approximately 365.2422 days to orbit the Sun, and the extra day every four years compensates for this accumulated fraction of a day.
How to Calculate a Leap Year
Many students and teachers often ask: how to calculate leap year? The rules, established by the Gregorian calendar, are logical and straightforward. Our calculator uses this exact formula.
- A year must be evenly divisible by 4 to be considered a potential leap year.
- However, if that year is also evenly divisible by 100, it is NOT a leap year.
- There is an exception to the exception: if a year is divisible by 100 but is ALSO divisible by 400, then it IS a leap year.
Example Calculations:
- 2024: Is divisible by 4 but not by 100. It is a leap year. ✅
- 2100: Is divisible by 4 and by 100, but NOT by 400. It is NOT a leap year. ❌
- 2000: Is divisible by 4, 100, and 400. It IS a leap year. ✅
Upcoming Leap Years
Here is a list of the upcoming leap years for your reference: 2028, 2032, 2036, 2040, 2044, 2048, 2052, 2056, 2060, 2064, 2068, 2072, 2076, 2080, 2084.
FAQs – Leap Year Calculator
Q1: How do we calculate leap year?
A: The official way how we calculate leap year is by applying the Gregorian calendar rules: a year is a leap year if it is divisible by 4, unless it is divisible by 100 but not by 400. Our calculator automates this logic for you.
Q2: Why do we need leap years?
A: We need leap years to keep our calendar in alignment with the Earth's orbit around the Sun. An astronomical year is about 365.24 days long. Without the extra day added every four years, our seasons would slowly drift. Over a century, the calendar would be off by about 24 days.
Q3: Is 2025 a leap year?
A: No, 2025 is not a leap year because it is not divisible by 4. The next leap year after 2024 will be 2028.
Q4: How is leap year calculated officially?
A: The official rule for calculating leap years comes from the Gregorian Calendar, which was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 and is the standard civil calendar used by most of the world today.