Leap years occur every four years and keep our calendar in line with the Earth's orbit around the Sun. To be precise, a leap year is a year that has an additional day compared to regular years which is February 29th. Leap years are important so that our calendar year matches the solar year i.e the amount of time it takes for Earth to make a trip around the Sun.

Why Do We Have A Leap Year? 

A day is the amount of time it takes a planet to finish one rotation on its axis. It takes approximately 365.25 days for Earth to orbit the Sun a solar year. We usually round the days in a calendar year to 365. To make up for the missing partial day, we add one day to our calendar approximately every four years. That is known as a leap year.

Is 2022 A Leap Year?

2022 is not a leap year. The next leap year will be in 2024, which means the next leap day will be 29 February 2024. People born on February 29 may be known as a ‘leapling’ or ‘leaper’ and this year will actually be able to celebrate their birthdays on Leap Day, as opposed to the day before or after.

How To Calculate Leap Year? 

Each year that is evenly divisible by 4 which means the remainder should be zero when divided by 4, is a leap year unless it is also evenly divisible by 100 - but even in this case, it is a leap year if it is also evenly divisible by 400.

List Of Next Five Leap Years

For the 21st century, the next five leap years after 2022 are 2024, 2028, 2032, 2036, and 2040.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 06, 2022 02:27 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).