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Fun with numbers: Be born on leap day – avoid growing old

For "leapers" or "leaplings," as they're sometimes called, leap day birthdays may be the cleverest of all anti-aging devices. / Getty Images/iStockphoto/Deagreez
For "leapers" or "leaplings," as they're sometimes called, leap day birthdays may be the cleverest of all anti-aging devices. / Getty Images/iStockphoto/Deagreez For "leapers" or "leaplings," as they're sometimes called, leap day birthdays may be the cleverest of all anti-aging devices. / Getty Images/iStockphoto/Deagreez

By Lisa Denton 10 min read

Debbie Ward, grandmother of seven, turns 16 on Saturday.

Kelly Alexander will turn 11 the same day, making her, for a couple of months, the same age as her daughter.

If it sounds like they’ve found the fountain of youth, maybe they have, but not the one Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon was seeking. Instead, they can thank a Roman general and a Catholic pope for helping them hold on to their youth without having to lie about their age.

Ward, of Brayton, Tennessee, and Alexander, of Tunnel Hill, Georgia, are among a select few – less than 0.07% of the world’s population – born on a leap day, Feb. 29.

Reference site Thoughtco.com puts the probability of a leap day birthday at 1 in 1,461, compared to 4 in 1,461 for any other day. Given current population data from the U.S. Census Bureau, only about 205,000 people in the U.S. have a Feb. 29 birthday, according to the site. For the world’s population, 4.8 million have a Feb. 29 birthday.