Edit your birthday in Facebook settings

You can change your birthday on Facebook by going to your profile, opening the About section, and updating the date directly. Facebook stores your birthday in your account information, and you control who sees it — you can make it visible to everyone, friends only, or hide it completely. The process takes about two minutes.

Start by opening Facebook and clicking your profile picture in the top right corner. Select "Profile" from the menu that appears. On your profile page, look for the "About" tab below your cover photo and click it.

Once you're in the About section, scroll down until you see "Basic Information" on the left side. Click on it to expand that category. You'll see a field labeled "Birthday" with your current date. Click the pencil icon next to it to edit.

Key Takeaways

  • Your birthday lives in the About section of your profile under Basic Information, where you can edit it anytime.
  • Facebook lets you choose who sees your birthday: everyone, friends only, or nobody — the setting is separate from the date itself.
  • If you've already set your birthday, Facebook limits how often you can change it to prevent misuse, though you can usually update it once per year.
  • Your birthday appears on friends' calendars only if you've set the visibility to friends or public, so changing the privacy setting hides it from those notifications.

Step-by-step: updating your birthday date

After clicking the pencil icon next to your birthday, a small editing window opens. You'll see three dropdown menus for month, day, and year. Click each one and select the correct information.

Start with the month dropdown — it shows all 12 months. Click the one you need. Then click the day dropdown and select the correct date. Finally, click the year dropdown and scroll to find your birth year. The year list goes back many decades, so you may need to scroll down quite a bit.

Once all three fields show the right date, look for a "Confirm" or checkmark button near the bottom of the editing window and click it. Facebook saves the change immediately. You don't need to refresh the page — the new birthday appears right away in your profile.

Control who sees your birthday

Next to your birthday in the Basic Information section, you'll see a privacy icon that looks like a person, a group of people, or a lock. This icon controls who can see your birthday on your profile. Click it to change the visibility setting.

Three options appear: "Public" (everyone on and off Facebook can see it), "Friends" (only people on your friends list can see it), or "Only Me" (nobody else can see it, though Facebook itself still knows it for account purposes). Select whichever you prefer. The change takes effect immediately.

Keep in mind that changing the privacy setting does not change who already knows your birthday — it only controls whether they can see it on your profile going forward. If you had it set to public before and friends already saw it, changing it to "Only Me" won't erase their memory of the date.

What to do if Facebook won't let you change it

Facebook limits how often you can edit your birthday to prevent people from repeatedly changing it to evade age restrictions or cause confusion. If you see a message saying you can't change your birthday right now, it usually means you've already updated it within the past year.

If you made a genuine mistake — you entered the wrong year or month — you can try contacting Facebook's support team through the Help Center. Go to the question mark icon in the top right, select "Help & Support," then "Help Center." Search for "birthday" and look for the option to report a problem with your account information. Explain that you entered an incorrect birthday and ask if they can reset the change limit.

Facebook does not always grant these requests, especially if the change is minor (like a wrong day). They're more likely to help if the year is significantly off. The process can take several days, and there's no may provide of success.

Why Facebook asks for your birthday

Facebook requires a birthday when you create an account for two reasons: to verify you're old enough to use the platform (the minimum age is 13 in most countries) and to show birthday reminders to your friends. Your birthday also determines which age-restricted content you can see — for example, ads for alcohol won't show to accounts under the legal drinking age.

Facebook does not publicly display your age, only the date itself. So if your birthday is January 15, 1990, your profile shows "January 15" but not "34 years old." Friends see the date on their birthday calendar if you've set the visibility to friends or public.

Hiding your birthday from the birthday calendar

Even if you set your birthday to visible to friends, you can prevent it from showing up on the birthday reminder that appears at the top of friends' feeds. This is a separate setting from profile visibility. Go back to Basic Information, find your birthday, and click the privacy icon next to it. Select "Only Me" to remove it from the birthday calendar entirely.

If you want friends to know it's your birthday but don't want it broadcast to everyone, there's no middle ground in Facebook's settings. Your options are: everyone sees it (including on the calendar), friends see it (including on the calendar), or nobody sees it. You can't make it visible on your profile but hidden from the calendar.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I change my birthday more than once a year?

Facebook limits birthday changes to once per year to prevent misuse. If you need to change it again before a year has passed, you'll see a message saying you can't edit it right now. Contact Facebook's Help Center and explain the error if the change is significant, though they don't always approve requests.

What happens to my birthday if I deactivate my account?

Your birthday stays in Facebook's system even after deactivation. If you reactivate your account, the birthday information is still there. If you permanently delete your account instead, Facebook deletes all your information including your birthday after about 30 days.

Do I have to put my real birthday on Facebook?

Facebook's terms require you to enter your actual birth date when you create an account so they can enforce the 13-year-old minimum age rule. However, once your account is created, you can change it to a different date. Facebook doesn't verify birthdays against government ID, so they can't detect if you've changed it after signup.

Will changing my birthday affect my Facebook memories or timeline?

No. Changing your birthday does not affect posts, photos, or memories already on your timeline. It only changes the date that appears in your profile and on friends' birthday calendars going forward.

Can I see when my birthday was last changed?

Facebook does not show you a history of birthday changes on your profile. Only you and Facebook's support team can see when it was last edited. There's no public log of changes.