Some countries are so wide, or have so many islands, that one clock cannot serve everyone. This page lists the 19 countries that have more than one time zone, with the number of zones, the UTC range, how far apart the clocks are, the difference to Brasília right now and whether any zone changes its clocks for daylight saving time.
Live clocks for the most notable countries
For each country, the clock of the westernmost and easternmost zone today.
Table of all countries with several time zones
"Zones" counts distinct clock rules in the IANA time zone database for the current year: two places count as the same zone only if they have the same UTC offset in January and in July. The UTC range and the difference to Brasília use today's clocks, with the difference shown from the westernmost to the easternmost zone (+ means ahead of Brasília). Click a column title to sort.
| Pages | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 7 | UTC+8 ↔ UTC+10:30 | 2.5 h | +11 h … +13:30 h | Partly | Time zones |
| Brazil | 4 | UTC−5 ↔ UTC−2 | 3 h | −2 h … +1 h | No | Time zones |
| Canada | 10 | UTC−7 ↔ UTC−2:30 | 4.5 h | −4 h … +0:30 h | Partly | Time zones · Local time |
| Chile | 3 | UTC−5 ↔ UTC−3 | 2 h | −2 h … 0 h | Partly | Time zones · Local time |
| DR Congo | 2 | UTC+1 ↔ UTC+2 | 1 h | +4 h … +5 h | No | Time zones · Local time |
| Ecuador | 2 | UTC−6 ↔ UTC−5 | 1 h | −3 h … −2 h | No | Time zones · Local time |
| French Polynesia | 3 | UTC−10 ↔ UTC−9 | 1 h | −7 h … −6 h | No | Time zones |
| Greenland | 3 | UTC−3 ↔ UTC+0 | 3 h | 0 h … +3 h | Partly | Time zones |
| Indonesia | 3 | UTC+7 ↔ UTC+9 | 2 h | +10 h … +12 h | No | Time zones · Local time |
| Kiribati | 3 | UTC+12 ↔ UTC+14 | 2 h | +15 h … +17 h | No | Time zones |
| Mexico | 6 | UTC−7 ↔ UTC−5 | 2 h | −4 h … −2 h | Partly | Time zones · Local time |
| Micronesia | 2 | UTC+10 ↔ UTC+11 | 1 h | +13 h … +14 h | No | Time zones |
| Mongolia | 2 | UTC+7 ↔ UTC+8 | 1 h | +10 h … +11 h | No | Time zones · Local time |
| New Zealand | 2 | UTC+13 ↔ UTC+13:45 | 0.75 h | +16 h … +16:45 h | Yes | Time zones |
| Papua New Guinea | 2 | UTC+10 ↔ UTC+11 | 1 h | +13 h … +14 h | No | Time zones |
| Portugal | 2 | UTC+0 ↔ UTC+1 | 1 h | +3 h … +4 h | Yes | Time zones · Local time |
| Russia | 11 | UTC+2 ↔ UTC+12 | 10 h | +5 h … +15 h | No | Time zones · Local time |
| Spain | 2 | UTC+1 ↔ UTC+2 | 1 h | +4 h … +5 h | Yes | Time zones · Local time |
| United States | 8 | UTC−10 ↔ UTC−4 | 6 h | −7 h … −1 h | Partly | Time zones · Local time |
Data source: the IANA time zone database bundled with the PHP version on this server. China and Ukraine are left out because they use a single official time, although the database records unofficial local zones.
Why some countries have several time zones
The Earth turns 360 degrees in 24 hours, so the sun reaches each 15 degrees of longitude about one hour after the previous one. A country that stretches far from east to west therefore has noon at very different moments in different places, and splitting it into zones keeps clocks roughly in step with daylight. Countries that are wide, such as Russia, Canada, the United States and Brazil, end up with several zones for exactly that reason.
Geography is not the only cause. Islands and overseas territories can place a country's lands far apart: Portugal's Azores, Spain's Canary Islands and Chile's Easter Island keep their own clocks. Governments also choose: some countries merge zones for simplicity, and some split them for administrative reasons, which is why the number of zones and the borders between them follow political lines rather than straight meridians.
On the data above, Russia has 11 zones (UTC+2 ↔ UTC+12), Canada 10 and the United States 8. Russia's 11 zones are the official count: ten cover contiguous land and the eleventh is the Kaliningrad exclave. If overseas territories are included, France is usually cited as the country with the most time zones, around 12, but they are spread over many islands and regions, so on this site they are separate places. Out of the 19 countries, 9 change their clocks for daylight saving time in at least one zone.
Want to compare times across zones? Use the time zone converter, the meeting planner or the world time. See also the time zones of Brazil and the page on places with a different time from Brasília.
Large countries with a single time zone
Not every large country splits its clock. These use a single official time across their whole territory (today's UTC offset in brackets):
China uses Beijing time everywhere; the Urumqi zone exists in the IANA database but is for unofficial local use.