How old is Goku in every Dragon Ball story arc?

Goku is one of the best-known characters not only in manga and anime, but also in popular culture. A name that has transcended its natural environment, Dragon Ball, and that is present in our day-to-day thanks to all kinds of formats. But there are many who are unaware of key aspects of the famous Saiyan, such as his age. For this reason, we are going to review the key events of Goku’s life to try to decipher how old he is in each moment of the series created by Akira Toriyama, since its inception in Dragon Ball as a kid lost in the mountains to the most recent intergalactic events of Dragon Ball Super.

How old is Goku from Dragon Ball?

If we look back and remember the beginning of Dragon Ball and Goku and Bulma’s first meeting, the boy reveals that he’s 11 years old, the moment in which he begins his first adventure to become a disciple of Roshi and participate in the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament. It was not until he was 15 years old that Goku faced the Red Ribbon army. We take another jump to 18-year-old Goku when he participates in the 32nd World Martial Arts Tournament in which he defeats Piccolo and marries Chi-chi.

Five years pass until the beginning of Dragon Ball Z, so Goku at that moment already is 23 years old and he is the father of a very young 5-year-old Gohan. And here comes the first temporary mismatch regarding Goku’s age; after sacrificing himself to defeat his brother Raditz, Goku continues training in the afterlife waiting to be resurrected to face Vegeta and Nappa. At that moment, Goku has 23 physical years, but 24 years of experience.

At the time of defeating Freezer on Namek, Goku is 26 years old(+1). However, after spending a year in the Time Chamber training with Gohan (where only one day passes on Earth), he faces Cell at 27 years old, now both physically and experience-wise. Again, Goku sacrifices himself to defeat Cell, so this time he spends 7 years waiting to be resurrected to defeat Majin Buu. Goku at that time is 27 physical years old, but 34 years old total. In the epilogue of Dragon Ball Z 10 years pass, so we see Goku with 37 physical (44 chronological) years in the supposed end of his story.

Let’s remember that Dragon Ball Super takes place during that decade, starting about four years after the end of Dragon Ball Z, so at the end of the anime series (now in standby) and in the Dragon Ball Super: Broly movie, Goku is 32 physical years and 39 chronological. About Dragon Ball GT, whose story is not considered canon, the story begins five years after the end of Dragon Ball Z and the training of Oob, so in this case we have a Goku with 42 physical years and 49 chronological years.