Thursday, May 17, 2012

Happy Birthday to Us ! Happy Birthday to Us !

I found this fascinating infographic on The Daily Viz about how common each day of the year is for birthdays in the United States. I say fascinating because while it is sort of interesting to look at your own birth date (mine happens to be January 1st) and see how unique or how common yours is, it is the patterns in the chart that intrigue me.

For example, clearly one of the most common months for births is September, and in particular mid-September to early October. Think about that... Nine months earlier is more or less Christmas and the New Year's holiday season.

Then there is the lack of births around July 4th. Lots of vacations, not just for pregnant moms but also for doctors around that holiday. The same thing can be said for the periods around Thanksgiving and Christmas.Obviously people's celebrations have impacts on the likelihood of scheduled, and unscheduled, births.

Then there is the one that most caught my eye. Instead of looking at months, look at the dates - horizontally across the graphic. The obvious date with the least births is the 13th of any month ! And imagine if it was a Friday the 13th at that !

So while an infographic can be just interesting to look at on the surface, they often tell even more about human activities and values than one might think at first glance !