Determining the duration, in years, between a given date of birth and the current date, or another specified date, within Microsoft Excel is a common requirement for various data management and reporting tasks. Several Excel functions can be utilized to accomplish this, providing users with options to calculate the age in years, or with further granularity including months and days. The most prevalent methods involve using the `DATEDIF` function or combining the `YEAR`, `TODAY`, and potentially `MONTH` and `DAY` functions.
The ability to automatically compute age from a birthdate offers substantial advantages in fields such as human resources, healthcare, and marketing. Accurate age data is crucial for compliance with age-related regulations, for demographic analysis to inform strategic decision-making, and for targeted communication strategies. Historically, calculating age involved manual computation, which was time-consuming and prone to error, highlighting the efficiency and accuracy gains offered by spreadsheet applications.