Birth Month
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According to a new study, the month in which your child is born may determine what career he or she is likely to follow as an adult.

The study, conducted by the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS), found that being born in a certain month indicates a statistical likelihood of what job a person will end up with. Researchers in the study also found that the month in which babies are born could also affect everything from intelligence to how long they live.

Using information from the last national census, the ONS analyzed the birth months of people from 19 different careers, reports the Daily Mail.

They found that general practitioners and debt collectors have the greatest percentage of January births, while sheet-metal workers have the lowest percentage. February newcomers appear to have a greater chance of becoming artists, and March is a good month for pilots, according to the ONS study.

The team said their findings suggest that both April and May have a fairly even spread of career paths. They said that babies born during the summer months (June, July and August) have a much lower chance of having high-end, top-paying careers, such as doctor, dentist, or professional athlete.

September babies have a greater chance above becoming sports players and physicists, and a less likely chance of becoming bricklayers or hairdressers. And giving birth in December could make your child become a dentist, the researchers suggest.

They also suggest that certain jobs are spread quite evenly throughout the year; most notably CEOs of large companies and real estate agents.

Although these trends may be difficult to explain, the researchers also suggest there are connections between month of birth and specific health issues.

They say babies born during the springtime have a greater risk of illnesses including schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, asthma and autism.

Many of the differences found may be linked to the amount of sunlight a mother receives during pregnancy, they suggest. Sunlight triggers the production of vitamin D in the body and lack of this in the first few months of life may have long-lasting effects.

Oxford University scientist Russell Foster, speaking earlier this year, said the effects were small "but they are very, very clear."

"I am not giving voice to astrology - it's nonsense - but we are not immune to seasonal interference," he said. "It seems absurd the month in which you are born can affect life chances, but how long you live, how tall you are, how well you do at school, your body mass index as an adult, your morning-versus-evening preference and how likely you are to develop a range of diseases are all correlated to some extent with the time of year in which you emerge from the womb."