2012: Year of the Water Dragon
The 2012 Chinese zodiac year is the Yang Water Dragon, and it runs from 23 January 2012 to 9 February 2013 — not from 1 January.
- Animal
- Dragon 龙
- Element and polarity
- Yang Water
- Gan-Zhi
- Ren Chen 壬辰
- Age this zodiac year
- Born in 2012, a person turns 14 during the 2026 year
Born early in 2012? You may be Rabbit, not Dragon
Chinese New Year 2012 fell on 23 January 2012. Anyone born between 1 January 2012 and 22 January 2012 — a window of 22 days — belongs to the 2011 zodiac year, the Yin Metal Rabbit, and not to the Dragon.
Check an exact birth date against the 23 January 2012 boundary.
Exact 2012 zodiac year dates
The 2012 lunar year carried a leap month, stretching it to 384 days — which is why the following Chinese New Year falls comparatively late.
Other Dragon years around 2012
| Dragon year | Complete name | Begins |
|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Yang Fire Dragon | 31 January 1976 |
| 1988 | Yang Earth Dragon | 17 February 1988 |
| 2000 | Yang Metal Dragon | 5 February 2000 |
| 2024 | Yang Wood Dragon | 10 February 2024 |
| 2036 | Yang Fire Dragon | 28 January 2036 |
| 2048 | Yang Earth Dragon | 14 February 2048 |
The exact pairing 壬辰 — Yang Water Dragon — returns only once every sixty years: 1952, 2072.