6 Months From Today

6 Months Ago

The same count in the other direction. 6 Months Ago was:

Calculate any other date

Change the number or the unit to work out any interval forwards or backwards. Need 6 months from a date other than today? Set the start date and the count runs from there instead.

Why people look up 6 months from today

Six months is the interval people count on the calendar rather than in days, which is why the date matters more than the day count — and why the end of the month needs a rule of its own.

• Passport validity beyond the date of arrival
• Half-yearly reviews, reports and renewals
• Fixed-term contracts, leases and trial periods
• Working out what date it was six months ago

Is 6 months the same as 26 weeks?

Six months is a calendar interval, not a number of days: it means the same day of the month, six months on. Twenty-six weeks is a fixed 182 days, and because the months in between are 28 to 31 days long the two agree only by coincidence. Rules written in weeks, such as employment thresholds, and rules written in months, such as passport validity, are measuring different things.

Today the gap is concrete. 6 Months From Today is Sunday, 21 March 2027, while 26 weeks from today is Monday, 22 March 2027 — a difference of 1 day later.

How many days is 6 months?

It depends where you start, and the answer above is for a count that starts today. Six months beginning on 1 January runs to 1 July, which is 181 days in an ordinary year and 182 in a leap year; six months beginning on 1 July runs to 1 January, 184 days. Every start date gives something between those, because any six consecutive months contain either three or four of the year's seven 31-day months, and may or may not include February.

That variability is the whole difference between this page and a count in days. A rule that says 180 days means 180 days; a rule that says six months means a calendar date, and the number of days it covers is a consequence, not the definition. Ask which one your document actually says before choosing a page.

What six months from the 31st means

Seven months have 31 days, four have 30, and February has 28 or 29, so the same day of the month does not always exist six months on. Six months from 31 August points at 31 February, which is not a date. This page, like banks and spreadsheet date functions, answers with the last day of the target month — 28 February, or 29 in a leap year. Some software does the opposite and rolls the missing days forward into March; if a deadline falls on one of those days, it is worth checking which convention the other side is using, because the two answers are three days apart.

Going backwards has the same rule. Six months before 31 March is 30 September, because September has no 31st, and six months before 29 August is 28 February in an ordinary year.

Passport validity: the six-month rule

The most common reason to need this date before a trip is a passport check. Many countries require the passport to remain valid for six months beyond the date of arrival, not merely until the day you leave. The UK government's advice for Thailand, for instance, reads: "To enter Thailand, your passport must have an 'expiry date' at least 6 months after the date you arrive and have at least 1 blank page." Indonesia's entry is worded the same way, with two blank pages required rather than one.

The check is a calendar one: take the arrival date, move six months forward on the calendar, and the passport's expiry date must be on or after that. Six months from today, shown at the top of this page, is the earliest expiry date that would pass for a trip beginning today.

Sources: GOV.UK — Thailand entry requirements · GOV.UK — Indonesia entry requirements

When six months is really 26 weeks

Employment rules that sound like six months are usually written in weeks, and the difference matters at the margin. To qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay in the UK you must "have worked for your employer continuously for at least 26 weeks continuing into the 'qualifying week'", which is "the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth". Twenty-six weeks is always 182 days; six calendar months from the same start date can be up to two days longer or one day shorter. For anyone whose employment began close to the line, it is the week count that decides, and the comparison above shows how far the two drift apart for a count that starts today.

Source: GOV.UK — Maternity pay and leave: eligibility

How the count works

Months are counted on the calendar, not in days: the answer keeps today's day of the month and moves the month forward. When that day does not exist in the target month — the 31st in a 30-day month, or the 29th, 30th or 31st in February — the answer is the last day of that month, which is how contracts, banks and spreadsheets read it. Weekends and public holidays make no difference.