Some rising signs
are far rarer than others.

Your rising sign is not a clean 1-in-12 toss. At Berlin · London latitude, Libra rising occurs about 3.3× as often as Aries rising — pure astronomy, computed exactly with the Swiss Ephemeris engine.

Most common rising

Libra

12.1% · 174 min/day

Rarest rising

Aries

3.6% · 52 min/day

The gap

3.3×

more vs. less likely

The ranking

Rising signs by frequency

Share of all births per rising sign at Berlin · London latitude (51.5°N), assuming birth times spread evenly across the day.

1Libra12.1%

2Leo11.8%

3Virgo11.8%

4Scorpio11.8%

5Cancer10.6%

6Sagittarius10.4%

7Gemini7.4%

8Capricorn7.4%

9Taurus4.7%

10Aquarius4.7%

11Pisces3.8%

12Aries3.6%

By latitude

Why your location matters

At the equator every rising sign is almost equally likely. The further north (or south) you go, the more skewed the distribution becomes.

Rising sign	0° Equator	23.5° Tropics	40° New York · Madrid	48° Vienna · Munich	51.5° Berlin · London	60° Oslo · Helsinki
Aries	7.6%	6.3%	5.0%	4.0%	3.6%	1.9%
Taurus	8.3%	7.2%	6.0%	5.3%	4.7%	3.1%
Gemini	8.9%	8.3%	8.1%	7.6%	7.4%	6.4%
Cancer	8.9%	9.4%	9.9%	10.1%	10.6%	11.5%
Leo	8.3%	9.4%	10.4%	11.4%	11.8%	13.5%
Virgo	7.8%	9.2%	10.6%	11.4%	11.8%	13.5%
Libra	7.9%	9.3%	10.7%	11.5%	12.1%	13.6%
Scorpio	8.3%	9.4%	10.6%	11.4%	11.8%	13.6%
Sagittarius	8.9%	9.4%	9.9%	10.3%	10.4%	11.4%
Capricorn	8.9%	8.5%	7.9%	7.5%	7.4%	6.4%
Aquarius	8.3%	7.1%	6.1%	5.3%	4.7%	3.1%
Pisces	7.8%	6.4%	5.0%	4.2%	3.8%	2.1%

The why

Signs of long & short ascension

Your rising sign is the zodiac sign climbing over the eastern horizon at the moment you were born. Over a day, all twelve signs pass that point once — but not at the same speed.

The ecliptic — the band the signs sit on — meets the horizon at a constantly changing angle. Where it lies flat, a sign rises slowly and lingers on the Ascendant ("long ascension"). Where it stands steep, a sign flicks past in minutes ("short ascension").

That is why a child born at a random time at Berlin · London latitude is far more likely to be Libra rising than Aries rising. At the equator the effect almost vanishes — there the ecliptic stands steeper and more evenly.

Common questions

Questions about rising signs

What is the rarest rising sign?

At mid-northern latitudes (Berlin · London) Aries rising is the rarest at about 3.6% — it spends the least time on the Ascendant each day.

What is the most common rising sign?

At Berlin · London latitude Libra rising is the most common at about 12.1% — roughly 3.3× as common as Aries rising.

Why are rising signs not evenly distributed?

The zodiac signs cross the horizon at a changing angle. "Signs of long ascension" take longer to pass over the Ascendant and "signs of short ascension" pass quickly — and the further you are from the equator, the stronger the effect.

Does location really matter?

Yes — at the equator every rising sign is almost equally likely (~8% each). It is latitude that skews the distribution; longitude only shifts the clock time, not the frequency.

Methodology

For each latitude the Ascendant is computed across a full day in 2-minute steps (Swiss Ephemeris). The time-share a sign spends on the Ascendant equals the probability of that rising sign for birth times spread evenly across the day. Real birth times are not perfectly uniform, so these are astronomical approximations, not a population census.