Countdown Calculator
See exactly how many days, weeks and hours are left until a specific date — a holiday, vacation, birthday or other milestone.
How to use the countdown calculator
- Choose the date you want to count down to.
- The calculator automatically shows how many days, weeks and hours are left from today.
How the countdown is calculated
The calculator finds the difference between the chosen date and today's date, and converts it to whole days, weeks and hours:
Weeks left = Days left ÷ 7 (rounded down)
Counting down across year boundaries and leap years
A countdown spanning a long period has to deal with the fact that years are not all the same length. A leap year has 366 days, and the leap year rule is more involved than «every fourth year»: years divisible by 100 are not leap years unless they are also divisible by 400. That is why 2000 was a leap year while 1900 was not — a detail that has caused real software bugs.
Daylight saving transitions mean not every day is exactly 24 hours either. If the countdown crosses a transition, the number of hours shifts by one even though the number of calendar days is correct. For a countdown to a date this rarely matters, but if you are counting down to a specific time of day, it is worth knowing about.
Frequently asked questions
What happens if I pick a date that has already passed?
The calculator will then show a negative number of days, telling you how long ago the date was.
Does the calculator account for leap years?
Yes, the calculation uses actual calendar dates, so leap years in February are automatically counted correctly.