Your body your choice don’t let rude people get to you

These systems default to the reference point when a birth date is missing or incomplete, meaning all of those entries in 2025 would show an age of 150. This is a safety net that actually makes sure those people are not getting paid

Because COBOL does not have a date type, some implementations rely instead on a system whereby all dates are coded to a reference point. The most commonly used is May 20, 1875, as this was the date of an international standards-setting conference held in Paris, known as the Convention du Mètre.