Chinese Zodiac Years: Animals, Dates and a Year Chart

Your Chinese zodiac animal depends on your birth year, but with one catch that trips up a lot of people: the zodiac year does not begin on 1 January. It begins at Lunar New Year, which falls between late January and mid-February. Someone born on 20 January 1990 is a Snake, not a Horse: the Year of the Horse didn't start until 27 January 1990, so they still belong to the year before. The Chinese zodiac calculator takes your full date of birth and gets this right.

Here is the whole system, a chart to find your animal, and what to do when you were born near the start of the year.

The 12 animals, in order

The twelve animals repeat in the same order, one per year: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat (also called Sheep or Ram), Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig. A full cycle takes 12 years. Tradition holds that the animals ran a race for the Jade Emperor and finished in this order, though there are many versions of the tale.

To find an animal by arithmetic, subtract 4 from the year and divide by 12. The remainder tells you the animal: 0 is Rat, 1 is Ox, and so on down the list. For 2000, 2000 − 4 = 1996, and 1996 ÷ 12 leaves a remainder of 4, which is the Dragon. This only works for dates after Lunar New Year, so check the date first.

Year chart: 1948 to 2031

Use this table only when you were born after Lunar New Year of that year. If you were born in January or early February, check the next section.

Animal	Years
Rat	1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020
Ox	1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009, 2021
Tiger	1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010, 2022
Rabbit	1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, 2023
Dragon	1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012, 2024
Snake	1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013, 2025
Horse	1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014, 2026
Goat	1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015, 2027
Monkey	1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016, 2028
Rooster	1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017, 2029
Dog	1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018, 2030
Pig	1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019, 2031

Why January and February births are tricky

Lunar New Year follows the moon, so its date in the Gregorian calendar moves every year. A person born on 15 January 2025 was born in the Year of the Dragon, even though the calendar year is 2025 (a Snake year). Here are the dates for the next few years:

Lunar New Year	Animal that begins
29 January 2025	Snake
17 February 2026	Horse
6 February 2027	Goat
26 January 2028	Monkey

So a baby born on 10 February 2026 is still a Snake in the traditional count, and a baby born on 20 February 2026 is a Horse. If your birthday is between 21 January and 20 February, always check the actual date for your year before trusting a table.

Some astrologers who work with the Chinese Four Pillars (Ba Zi) start the year at the "Start of Spring" (Lichun), around 4 February, instead. That is a second convention. The calculator lets you choose either one and says which it used, so if you were born in that early-February gap you can see both.

Elements: the second half of your sign

Alongside the animal, each year has one of five elements, and each element covers two years in a row. The last digit of the year tells you the element:

Last digit	Element
0 or 1	Metal
2 or 3	Water
4 or 5	Wood
6 or 7	Fire
8 or 9	Earth

The animal and element together make a 60-year cycle (12 animals × 5 elements, with yin and yang alternating, so the full combination takes 60 years to repeat). Someone born in 1984 is a Wood Rat, and the next Wood Rat year is 2044. This is why a sixtieth birthday is a big milestone in Chinese-speaking communities: the person's own year has come around again.

What each animal is traditionally said to be like

These are the folk descriptions people usually quote. They're a cultural tradition and a fun way to talk about personality, not a scientific classification.

• Rat: quick-witted and resourceful.
• Ox: patient, dependable and hard-working.
• Tiger: brave, competitive and charismatic.
• Rabbit: gentle, diplomatic and careful.
• Dragon: confident, energetic and ambitious.
• Snake: thoughtful, private and intuitive.
• Horse: free-spirited, social and restless.
• Goat: kind, creative and peace-loving.
• Monkey: clever, curious and playful.
• Rooster: observant, organised and proud.
• Dog: loyal, honest and protective.
• Pig: generous, easy-going and warm.

How to check your own sign

1. Enter your full date of birth in the Chinese zodiac calculator. It covers 1901 to 2100.
2. Choose when the year starts: Lunar New Year (the popular default) or the start of spring.
3. Read your animal and element, and the first and last dates of your zodiac year.

The Lunar New Year dates are calculated from the calendar's own rules, using new moons and solar terms in China's time, and checked against the Hong Kong Observatory's tables. Birth time zone matters in the rare case you were born on the exact day of the new year, so note whether the date is in your local time or in China's.