How to Accurately Calculate Age Difference in Years Using MySQL?

Calculating Age Difference in MySQL as an Integer

Determining the age of an individual in a database can pose challenges when dealing with date calculations. MySQL's built-in function DATEDIFF calculates the difference between two dates in days, necessitating further processing to obtain the age in years.

One approach involves dividing the difference in days by 365, but this results in a floating-point value. To obtain an integer, the year components of the current date and birth date can be subtracted:

SELECT id, year(curdate())-year(birth_date)
FROM student

However, this approach encounters issues when the calculated age is off by one year for individuals born after the current month. For example, someone born in June 1970 would be considered 32 years old using this method even though they are only 31 years and five months old.

Resolution:

To address this issue, MySQL provides the TIMESTAMPDIFF function, which offers a more accurate approach for calculating age differences. The following query utilizes TIMESTAMPDIFF:

SELECT TIMESTAMPDIFF(YEAR, date_of_birth, CURDATE()) AS difference
FROM student

By replacing YEAR with MONTH or DAY, age differences can be calculated in months or days, respectively. This method effectively handles scenarios where the age is off by one unit during specific months.

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