The Paradox Portal
Mathematical

Birthday Paradox

23 people have a 50% chance of sharing a birthday

Overview

A counterintuitive probability result about how many people are needed for a likely birthday match.

In a room of just 23 randomly chosen people, there's a greater than 50% chance two share a birthday. With 70 people, it's 99.9% certain. This seems impossibly low given 365 possible birthdays.

Learn More