2020: Year of the Metal Rat
The 2020 Chinese zodiac year is the Yang Metal Rat, and it runs from 25 January 2020 to 11 February 2021 — not from 1 January.
- Animal
- Rat 鼠
- Element and polarity
- Yang Metal
- Gan-Zhi
- Geng Zi 庚子
- Age this zodiac year
- Born in 2020, a person turns 6 during the 2026 year
Born early in 2020? You may be Pig, not Rat
Chinese New Year 2020 fell on 25 January 2020. Anyone born between 1 January 2020 and 24 January 2020 — a window of 24 days — belongs to the 2019 zodiac year, the Yin Earth Pig, and not to the Rat.
Check an exact birth date against the 25 January 2020 boundary.
Exact 2020 zodiac year dates
The 2020 lunar year carried a leap month, stretching it to 384 days — which is why the following Chinese New Year falls comparatively late.
Other Rat years around 2020
| Rat year | Complete name | Begins |
|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Yang Wood Rat | 2 February 1984 |
| 1996 | Yang Fire Rat | 19 February 1996 |
| 2008 | Yang Earth Rat | 7 February 2008 |
| 2032 | Yang Water Rat | 11 February 2032 |
| 2044 | Yang Wood Rat | 30 January 2044 |
| 2056 | Yang Fire Rat | 15 February 2056 |
The exact pairing 庚子 — Yang Metal Rat — returns only once every sixty years: 1960, 2080.