How the world is divided
| # | Fact |
|---|---|
| 1 | There are 312 time zones in the world's official list, covering 247 countries and territories. |
| 2 | Between them they use 39 different offsets from UTC in 2026. |
| 3 | The clock spans 25 hours from end to end — more than a day, which is why there is always somewhere with a different date to yours. |
| 4 | A time zone is not a country. 247 countries and territories share 312 zones between them, and some of the largest have a dozen each. |
| 5 | The United States is split across 29 separate time zones. |
| 6 | Russia is split across 27 separate time zones. |
| 7 | Canada is split across 20 separate time zones. |
| 8 | Brazil is split across 16 separate time zones. |
| 9 | 34 of the world's zones are shared by more than one country — the clock is the same, so the time zone is the same entry. |
| 10 | 20 countries and territories keep the same clock as Puerto Rico — more than share any other single zone. |
| 11 | 73 different time zone abbreviations have been in use — and they are not unique, which is why a meeting invitation saying 'CST' could mean three different things. |
| 12 | Antarctica is 11 hours wide on the clock: when it is noon in Palmer it is already 23:00 in Casey, Antarctica. |
| 13 | Russia is 10 hours wide on the clock: when it is noon in Kaliningrad it is already 22:00 in Anadyr. |
| 14 | The United States is 5 hours wide on the clock: when it is noon in Adak, Alaska it is already 17:00 in Detroit. |
| 15 | Canada is 4.5 hours wide on the clock: when it is noon in Vancouver it is already 16:30 in St John's, Newfoundland. |
| 16 | Greenland is 4 hours wide on the clock: when it is noon in Thule, Greenland it is already 16:00 in Danmarkshavn, Greenland. |
| 17 | Mexico is 3 hours wide on the clock: when it is noon in Tijuana it is already 15:00 in Cancun. |
| 18 | Brazil is 3 hours wide on the clock: when it is noon in Eirunepe it is already 15:00 in Noronha. |
| 19 | Australia is 3 hours wide on the clock: when it is noon in Perth it is already 15:00 in Macquarie Island. |
| 20 | 214 of the world's 247 countries and territories keep a single clock from end to end. The other 33 need more than one. |
| 21 | 121 of the world's 312 time zones are filed under the Americas — 38% of the list. |
| 22 | 74 of the world's 312 time zones are filed under Asia — 23% of the list. |
| 23 | 38 of the world's 312 time zones are filed under Europe — 12% of the list. |
| 24 | 30 of the world's 312 time zones are filed under the Pacific — 9% of the list. |
| 25 | 19 of the world's 312 time zones are filed under Africa — 6% of the list. |
| 26 | 11 of the world's 312 time zones are filed under Australia — 3% of the list. |
| 27 | 8 of the world's 312 time zones are filed under Antarctica — 2% of the list. |
| 28 | 8 of the world's 312 time zones are filed under the Atlantic — 2% of the list. |
| 29 | 3 of the world's 312 time zones are filed under the Indian Ocean — 0% of the list. |
Offsets that are not whole hours
| # | Fact |
|---|---|
| 30 | 13 of the world's offsets are not a whole number of hours from UTC. |
| 31 | the Marquesas Islands runs on UTC-9:30 — 30 minutes off the nearest whole hour. |
| 32 | St John's, Newfoundland runs on UTC-3:30 — 30 minutes off the nearest whole hour. |
| 33 | Tehran runs on UTC+3:30 — 30 minutes off the nearest whole hour. |
| 34 | Kabul runs on UTC+4:30 — 30 minutes off the nearest whole hour. |
| 35 | Colombo and Kolkata run on UTC+5:30 — 30 minutes off the nearest whole hour. |
| 36 | Kathmandu runs on UTC+5:45 — 45 minutes off the nearest whole hour. |
| 37 | Yangon runs on UTC+6:30 — 30 minutes off the nearest whole hour. |
| 38 | Eucla, Australia runs on UTC+8:45 — 45 minutes off the nearest whole hour. |
| 39 | Adelaide, Broken Hill, Australia and Darwin run on UTC+9:30 — 30 minutes off the nearest whole hour. |
| 40 | Adelaide, Broken Hill, Australia and Lord Howe Island run on UTC+10:30 — 30 minutes off the nearest whole hour. |
| 41 | the Chatham Islands runs on UTC+12:45 — 45 minutes off the nearest whole hour. |
| 42 | 13 of the world's 312 time zones are set to something other than a whole hour from UTC in January — about 4% of them. |
| 43 | Lord Howe Island is only off the whole hour in July — the clock change is what puts it there. |
Who changes and who does not
| # | Fact |
|---|---|
| 44 | 205 of the world's 312 time zones never touch their clocks in 2026. Only 107 do. |
| 45 | Changing the clocks twice a year is the minority habit: it is what 34% of the world's time zones do. |
| 46 | 105 zones move their clocks by exactly one hour. Everyone else who moves them does something stranger. |
| 47 | Troll, Antarctica moves its clocks by 2 hours, not by an hour — one of only two places on earth that does something other than a whole hour. |
| 48 | Lord Howe Island moves its clocks by 30 minutes, not by an hour — one of only two places on earth that does something other than a whole hour. |
| 49 | In Africa, 4 of 19 time zones change their clocks in 2026. |
| 50 | In the Americas, 53 of 121 time zones change their clocks in 2026. |
| 51 | In Antarctica, 2 of 8 time zones change their clocks in 2026. |
| 52 | In Asia, 6 of 74 time zones change their clocks in 2026. |
| 53 | In the Atlantic, 5 of 8 time zones change their clocks in 2026. |
| 54 | In Australia, 6 of 11 time zones change their clocks in 2026. |
| 55 | In Europe, 27 of 38 time zones change their clocks in 2026. |
| 56 | Not one of the 3 time zones in the Indian Ocean changes its clocks in 2026. |
| 57 | In the Pacific, 4 of 30 time zones change their clocks in 2026. |
| 58 | 53 of the world's 312 time zones have never moved their clocks for the summer. Not once, in the whole history of the record. |
| 59 | Among the places that have never once used daylight saving: Abidjan, Bangkok and Bissau. |
| 60 | 7 countries cannot agree with themselves: part of the country changes the clocks and part of it does not. |
| 61 | In the United States, 27 of 29 time zones change the clocks and the other 2 do not. |
| 62 | In Canada, 14 of 20 time zones change the clocks and the other 6 do not. |
| 63 | In Mexico, 4 of 12 time zones change the clocks and the other 8 do not. |
| 64 | In Australia, 7 of 12 time zones change the clocks and the other 5 do not. |
| 65 | In Antarctica, 1 of 7 time zones changes the clocks and the other 6 do not. |
| 66 | In Chile, 2 of 4 time zones change the clocks and the other 2 do not. |
| 67 | In Greenland, 3 of 4 time zones change the clocks and the other 1 does not. |
When it happens
| # | Fact |
|---|---|
| 68 | There are 213 clock changes in the world in 2026, spread over 17 different days. |
| 69 | The world's first clock change of 2026 is Casablanca's, on 15 February. |
| 70 | The world's last clock change of 2026 is Adak, Alaska's, on 1 November. |
| 71 | Most of the world moves its clocks at 02:00 local time — 139 of the 213 changes in 2026 happen then. |
| 72 | the Chatham Islands moves its clocks at 02:45 local time, not at two in the morning like nearly everyone else. |
| 73 | Easter Island moves its clocks at 22:00 local time, not at two in the morning like nearly everyone else. |
| 74 | Nuuk and Scoresbysund, Greenland move their clocks at 23:00 local time, not at two in the morning like nearly everyone else. |
| 75 | Clock changes cluster in two months: 94 of the 213 in 2026 happen in March. |
| 76 | The southern hemisphere does it backwards: its clocks go forward in September and October, while the northern hemisphere's go back. |
| 77 | The longest summer time in the world is El Aaiun, Western Sahara's: 330 days of the year on the moved clock. |
| 78 | The shortest is Macquarie Island's, at 183 days. |
| 79 | The middle of the pack is about 212 days — around 58% of the year, which makes 'summer time' a generous name for it. |
| 80 | 202 of the world's 213 clock changes in 2026 fall on a Sunday. Nobody wants to do this on a working morning. |
| 81 | The exceptions fall on a Friday and Saturday — the places whose rule is tied to a date rather than to a weekend. |
| 82 | 94 of the world's clocks go forward in March. |
| 83 | 8 of the world's clocks go forward in October. |
| 84 | 4 of the world's clocks go forward in September. |
| 85 | 50 of the world's clocks go back in November. |
| 86 | 42 of the world's clocks go back in October. |
| 87 | 12 of the world's clocks go back in April. |
How it started and how it went
| # | Fact |
|---|---|
| 88 | The time zone database carries daylight saving rules going back to 1910. |
| 89 | It also carries rules that run to 2086, because some countries have written their rules with no end date. |
| 90 | 134 separate sets of daylight saving rules have existed, one for each country or region that has ever kept its own schedule. |
| 91 | Clocks have been moved by 7 different amounts over the years, not just by an hour. |
| 92 | Double summer time is real: 22 rules in the database move the clocks by two hours. |
| 93 | 23 rules in the database move the clocks by half an hour. |
| 94 | 1 rule in the database moves the clocks by twenty minutes. |
| 95 | 1 rule in the database moves the clocks by ninety minutes. |
| 96 | 15 rules move the clocks BACKWARDS in summer — a negative daylight saving, where the standard time is the summer one and winter is the exception. |
| 97 | The most rewritten entry in the database is Tijuana's: its offset from UTC has been redefined 23 times. |
| 98 | Across every zone, the database records 1963 separate periods of 'the clock here was set like this' since records began. |
| 99 | Paraguay last moved its clocks in 2024, after keeping daylight saving on and off since 1975. |
| 100 | Iran last moved its clocks in 2022, after keeping daylight saving on and off since 1910. |
| 101 | Syria last moved its clocks in 2022, after keeping daylight saving on and off since 1920. |
| 102 | Fiji kept daylight saving from 1998 to 2021, then stopped. |
| 103 | Samoa kept daylight saving from 2010 to 2021, then stopped. |
| 104 | Brazil last moved its clocks in 2019, after keeping daylight saving on and off since 1931. |
| 105 | Namibia kept daylight saving from 1994 to 2017, then stopped. |
| 106 | Tonga kept daylight saving from 1999 to 2017, then stopped. |
| 107 | Mongolia kept daylight saving from 1983 to 2016, then stopped. |
| 108 | Azerbaijan kept daylight saving from 1997 to 2015, then stopped. |
| 109 | Uruguay last moved its clocks in 2015, after keeping daylight saving on and off since 1923. |
| 110 | Libya last moved its clocks in 2013, after keeping daylight saving on and off since 1951. |
| 111 | Armenia tried daylight saving in 2011 and gave it up the same year. |
| 112 | Armenia and 7 other countries kept daylight saving from 1981 to 2010, then stopped. |
| 113 | The Falkland Islands last moved their clocks in 2010, after keeping daylight saving on and off since 1937. |
| 114 | Mauritius kept daylight saving from 1982 to 2009, then stopped. |
| 115 | Bangladesh tried daylight saving in 2009 and gave it up the same year. |
| 116 | Pakistan kept daylight saving from 2002 to 2009, then stopped. |
| 117 | Eucla, Australia and Perth kept daylight saving from 1974 to 2009, then stopped. |
| 118 | Buenos Aires, Catamarca and 11 other places last moved their clocks in 2009, after keeping daylight saving on and off since 1930. |
| 119 | San Luis tried daylight saving in 2007 and gave it up by 2009. |
| 120 | Tunisia last moved its clocks in 2008, after keeping daylight saving on and off since 1939. |
| 121 | Iraq kept daylight saving from 1982 to 2007, then stopped. |
| 122 | Turkey last moved its clocks in 2006, after keeping daylight saving on and off since 1916. |
| 123 | Guatemala kept daylight saving from 1973 to 2006, then stopped. |
| 124 | Honduras kept daylight saving from 1987 to 2006, then stopped. |
| 125 | Nicaragua kept daylight saving from 1979 to 2006, then stopped. |
| 126 | Kyrgyzstan kept daylight saving from 1992 to 2005, then stopped. |
| 127 | New Caledonia kept daylight saving from 1977 to 1997, then stopped. |
| 128 | Lindeman tried daylight saving in 1992 and gave it up by 1994. |
| 129 | Peru last moved its clocks in 1994, after keeping daylight saving on and off since 1938. |
| 130 | Vanuatu kept daylight saving from 1973 to 1993, then stopped. |
| 131 | Colombia tried daylight saving in 1992 and gave it up by 1993. |
| 132 | Ecuador tried daylight saving in 1992 and gave it up by 1993. |
| 133 | Brisbane and Lindeman kept daylight saving from 1971 to 1992, then stopped. |
| 134 | Costa Rica kept daylight saving from 1979 to 1992, then stopped. |
| 135 | Shanghai kept daylight saving from 1986 to 1991, then stopped. |
| 136 | The Cook Islands kept daylight saving from 1978 to 1991, then stopped. |
| 137 | The Philippines last moved their clocks in 1990, after keeping daylight saving on and off since 1936. |
| 138 | South Korea last moved its clocks in 1988, after keeping daylight saving on and off since 1948. |
| 139 | El Salvador tried daylight saving in 1987 and gave it up by 1988. |
| 140 | Sudan and South Sudan kept daylight saving from 1970 to 1985, then stopped. |
| 141 | Belize last moved its clocks in 1983, after keeping daylight saving on and off since 1918. |
| 142 | Algeria last moved its clocks in 1980, after keeping daylight saving on and off since 1916. |
| 143 | Barbados kept daylight saving from 1942 to 1980, then stopped. |
| 144 | Hong Kong kept daylight saving from 1946 to 1979, then stopped. |
| 145 | Taiwan kept daylight saving from 1946 to 1979, then stopped. |
| 146 | Macau kept daylight saving from 1942 to 1979, then stopped. |
| 147 | Guam kept daylight saving from 1959 to 1977, then stopped. |
| 148 | The Dominican Republic kept daylight saving from 1966 to 1974, then stopped. |
| 149 | Dawson and Whitehorse tried daylight saving in 1965 and gave it up the same year. |
| 150 | Swift Current tried daylight saving in 1957 and gave it up by 1961. |
| 151 | Regina and Swift Current last moved their clocks in 1959, after keeping daylight saving on and off since 1918. |
| 152 | Japan tried daylight saving in 1948 and gave it up by 1951. |
| 153 | Shanghai kept daylight saving from 1919 to 1949, then stopped. |
| 154 | South Africa tried daylight saving in 1942 and gave it up by 1944. |
| 155 | Malaysia kept daylight saving from 1935 to 1941, then stopped. |
| 156 | Hobart and Macquarie Island have been moving the clocks, on and off, since 1916. |
| 157 | Belgrade, Berlin and 18 other places have been moving the clocks, on and off, since 1916. |
| 158 | Adak, Alaska, Anchorage and 37 other places have been moving the clocks, on and off, since 1918. |
| 159 | Bermuda, Cambridge Bay and 19 other places have been moving the clocks, on and off, since 1918. |
| 160 | Lebanon has been moving the clocks, on and off, since 1920. |
| 161 | Auckland has been moving the clocks, on and off, since 1927. |
| 162 | Coyhaique, Easter Island and 3 other places have been moving the clocks, on and off, since 1927. |
| 163 | Cuba has been moving the clocks, on and off, since 1928. |
| 164 | Egypt has been moving the clocks, on and off, since 1940. |
| 165 | Israel and Palestine have been moving the clocks, on and off, since 1940. |
| 166 | Adelaide and Broken Hill, Australia have been moving the clocks, on and off, since 1971. |
| 167 | Melbourne has been moving the clocks, on and off, since 1971. |
| 168 | Broken Hill, Australia, Norfolk and Sydney have been moving the clocks, on and off, since 1971. |
| 169 | Ireland has been moving the clocks, on and off, since 1971. |
| 170 | The Chatham Islands have been moving the clocks, on and off, since 1974. |
| 171 | Andorra, Athens and 34 other places have been moving the clocks, on and off, since 1977. |
| 172 | Poland has been moving the clocks, on and off, since 1977. |
| 173 | Bulgaria, Moldova and Romania have been moving the clocks, on and off, since 1977. |
| 174 | Azerbaijan and Cyprus have been moving the clocks, on and off, since 1979. |
| 175 | Georgia has been moving the clocks, on and off, since 1979. |
| 176 | Lord Howe Island has been moving the clocks, on and off, since 1981. |
| 177 | Haiti has been moving the clocks, on and off, since 1983. |
| 178 | Thule, Greenland has been moving the clocks, on and off, since 1991. |
| 179 | Palestine has been moving the clocks, on and off, since 1999. |
| 180 | Troll, Antarctica has been moving the clocks, on and off, since 2004. |
| 181 | The most rewritten daylight saving schedule in the world is Palestine's: 110 separate amendments. |
| 182 | Israel and Palestine have rewritten their daylight saving schedule 85 times. |
| 183 | the United Kingdom, Gibraltar and Ireland have rewritten their daylight saving schedule 65 times. |
| 184 | Western Sahara and Morocco have rewritten their daylight saving schedule 57 times. |
| 185 | Brazil has rewritten its daylight saving schedule 57 times. |
| 186 | Uruguay has rewritten its daylight saving schedule 48 times. |
| 187 | 27 leap seconds have been added to the world's clocks since 1972, each one a second that the earth had fallen behind. |
| 188 | The most recent leap second was in 2016. There has not been one since, because the earth has been spinning slightly faster. |
| 189 | A leap second is one second added to a minute, making it 61 seconds long. Almost nobody notices, and a few large computer systems fall over. |
| 190 | The time zone database is on release 2026d. It is updated whenever a government changes its mind, which is several times a year. |
| 191 | There have been 312 releases of the database, each one a country somewhere deciding something different about its clocks. |
| 192 | The whole thing is public domain. Every phone, laptop and server on earth keeps time by the same volunteer-maintained text files. |
The far edges of the map
| # | Fact |
|---|---|
| 193 | The first place on earth to see a new day is Kiritimati, Kiribati, on UTC+14. |
| 194 | The last is Niue, on UTC-11 — 25 hours behind the first. |
| 195 | For one hour of every day, three different calendar dates are in use somewhere in the world at the same moment. |
| 196 | 12 of the world's time zones sit inside the Arctic or Antarctic circles, where for part of the year the sun does not set at all and daylight saving saves nothing. |
| 197 | Antarctica has 8 time zones, and 2 of them still change the clocks — research stations keeping the hours of the country that supplies them. |
| 198 | Danmarkshavn, Greenland moved its clock 3 hours forward in 1996 and left it there — a change of side, not a change of season. |
| 199 | Casey, Antarctica moved its clock 3 hours back in 2023 and left it there — a change of side, not a change of season. |
| 200 | Rothera, Antarctica moved its clock 3 hours back in 1976 and left it there — a change of side, not a change of season. |
| 201 | Vostok, Antarctica moved its clock 7 hours forward in 1994 and left it there — a change of side, not a change of season. |
| 202 | Easter Island's clock runs 2.3 hours ahead of the sun over it. Noon on the clock is nowhere near noon overhead. |
| 203 | Dawson's clock runs 2.3 hours ahead of the sun over it. Noon on the clock is nowhere near noon overhead. |
| 204 | Vostok, Antarctica's clock runs 2.1 hours behind the sun over it. Noon on the clock is nowhere near noon overhead. |