2024 Is a Leap Year! But Why Exactly Do We Have Them?

Publish date: Tuesday، 02 January 2024 Last update: Thursday، 29 February 2024

2024 marks a leap year, featuring an extra day, February 29, in the calendar. But why exactly do we have leap years, and what purpose do they serve in our annual cycle?

What Is a Leap Year?

A leap year is an occurrence that adds an extra day, February 29, to our calendars. But why exactly do we have leap years, and what purpose do they serve in our annual cycle?

Why Are Leap Years Important?

Why do we need this leap year? The explanation lies in the discrepancy between the Gregorian calendar, measuring 365 days, and Earth's orbital year, which is approximately 365.25 days long. This disparity might seem slight, but over time, it significantly impacts the alignment of our calendar with the changing seasons.

Without the adjustment of leap days every four years, our calendar would gradually fall out of sync, creating a notable discrepancy between our designated seasons and the actual solar cycle.

How Do You Know If It’s a Leap Year?

Determining leap years follows specific criteria:

A year qualifies as a leap year if it's evenly divisible by 4.

However, years divisible by 100 (like 1900 or 2000) aren’t leap years, unless they’re also divisible by 400 (e.g., 1600 and 2000 were leap years while 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not).

When Is the Next Leap Year? When is the Next Leap Day?

Looking ahead, here are the upcoming leap years and their corresponding leap days:

2024: Thursday, February 29
2028: Tuesday, February 29
2032: Sunday, February 29
2036: Friday, February 29

2024 Is a Leap Year! But Why Exactly Do We Have Them?

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2024 Is a Leap Year! But Why Exactly Do We Have Them?

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