BirthdayThe Chinese zodiac assigns one of twelve animals to each year in a repeating 12-year cycle. Unlike Western astrology, which depends on your birth month and day, it depends on your birth year, so everyone born in the same year shares the same animal. It is one of the most common questions around Lunar New Year: which animal am I?
The 12 animals in order
The cycle runs Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig, and then starts again with the Rat. Because the cycle is 12 years long, adding or subtracting 12 from your birth year always lands on another year with the same animal.
Birth year chart
Rat: 1996, 2008, 2020. Ox: 1997, 2009, 2021. Tiger: 1998, 2010, 2022. Rabbit: 1999, 2011, 2023. Dragon: 2000, 2012, 2024. Snake: 2001, 2013, 2025. Horse: 2002, 2014, 2026. Goat: 2003, 2015, 2027. Monkey: 2004, 2016, 2028. Rooster: 2005, 2017, 2029. Dog: 2006, 2018, 2030. Pig: 2007, 2019, 2031.
The Lunar New Year rule
The Chinese zodiac year does not begin on January 1. It begins on Lunar New Year, which falls between late January and mid-February. If you were born in January or early February, you may belong to the animal of the previous year. For example, Lunar New Year was on February 10 in 2024 and on January 29 in 2025, so someone born on January 15, 2025 is still a Dragon (the 2024 animal), not a Snake. Our Zodiac Sign Calculator uses your birth year, so for January and February births it is worth double-checking the Lunar New Year date of that year.
The five elements and the 60-year cycle
Each animal is also paired with one of five elements: Metal, Water, Wood, Fire and Earth. The element follows the last digit of the year: 0 and 1 are Metal, 2 and 3 are Water, 4 and 5 are Wood, 6 and 7 are Fire, and 8 and 9 are Earth. Combining the 12 animals with the elements creates a cycle that repeats every 60 years. 2026, for example, is a Fire Horse year, and 2024 was a Wood Dragon year.
A note on the Fire Horse
The Fire Horse has a special reputation in some traditions. In Japan, births dropped sharply in the Fire Horse year of 1966 because of a superstition about girls born in that year, a reminder of how seriously zodiac beliefs have sometimes been taken. Today most people treat the zodiac as culture and entertainment, not as a prediction.
How to use it
Each animal is traditionally associated with personality traits, but these are cultural traditions, not science. To find your sign quickly, enter your birth date in our Zodiac Sign Calculator, which shows your Western sign and your Chinese animal together. And if you are planning a celebration, the Birthday Calculator shows the weekday you were born and how many days remain until your next birthday.