Curious Kids: why is February shorter than every other month?

By Helen Parish, Professor in History, University of Reading

Why does February has the least number of days? Why does it not have 30 or 31 days like the rest of the eleven months? – Simi, aged 15, Mauritius

The reason February is shorter than other months comes down to the history of how we measure and divide the year.

We know that the Earth takes 365 days and just under six hours to go around the Sun. The division of those days into twelve months is a human invention to measure time. But it hasn’t always been divided that way.

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