A new time zone fact, every day

About the daily fact

Time zones look like a tidy grid of hour-wide stripes, but the real map is full of exceptions: countries that ignore their longitude, offsets of 30 or 45 minutes, islands that skipped whole days, and daylight saving rules that change with governments. Each day this page shows one of those stories. The fact changes at midnight in your own time zone, and the six before it are listed above so you can catch up if you missed a day.

Every fact is checked against the history recorded in the IANA time zone database, the reference data your phone and computer use to show the correct local time. Where a fact is about a city with its own page on this site, the link takes you to that city's live clock, sunrise and sunset, and scheduling tips.

Why time zones are full of surprises

In theory, each 15 degrees of longitude is one hour of sun time. In practice, a country's clock is a political choice. China uses one time across a territory wide enough for five zones. Spain sits beside Britain on the map but keeps German time. India split the difference across its width with a half-hour offset. And daylight saving rules keep changing, with Mexico, Türkiye and Russia all dropping seasonal clock changes in recent years. For how these rules fit together, read how time zones work and the daylight saving time guide.

Every fact in the rotation

All 34 facts currently in the daily rotation:

• New Zealand Auckland, New Zealand sits so far ahead on the calendar that it's often the first major city in the world to ring in the new year. More on this city →
• China China spans a landmass wide enough for five time zones, but the whole country runs on a single official time: Beijing time. More on this city →
• Pacific Kiribati shifted its easternmost islands across the International Date Line in 1995, jumping straight from one calendar day to the next.
• Daylight saving London and Los Angeles are usually 8 hours apart, but for a few weeks each spring and autumn the gap drops to 7, because the US and the UK change their clocks on different dates. More on this city →
• Time offsets India and Sri Lanka both use a half-hour offset from GMT, UTC+5:30, rather than a whole hour, so their clocks sit on the half hour relative to most of the world. More on this city →
• UAE Dubai has never observed daylight saving time, so its offset from London swings between 3 and 4 hours depending on the season in the UK. More on this city →
• History The world's time zones were only standardized in the late 1800s, largely driven by the need for railway timetables to make sense across long distances.
• Time offsets Nepal's official time is offset by 45 minutes, UTC+5:45, one of the few places in the world to use a quarter-hour offset.
• Russia Russia stopped changing its clocks in 2011, and in 2014 settled Moscow permanently on UTC+3, where it has stayed year-round since. More on this city →
• Daylight saving Sydney is 1 hour ahead of Tokyo from April to October and 2 hours ahead from October to April, because Australia observes daylight saving and Japan does not. More on this city →
• United States Denver runs on Mountain Time, the same zone as Phoenix, but Arizona skips daylight saving, so in summer Denver is an hour ahead of Phoenix. More on this city →
• Brazil São Paulo stopped observing daylight saving time in 2019, ending a practice Brazil had followed on and off since the 1930s. More on this city →
• Singapore Singapore's clocks run about an hour ahead of where its longitude would naturally place them, a choice made in 1982 to align with Malaysia. More on this city →
• South Africa Johannesburg has never used daylight saving time in modern times, so its offset from London is always either 1 or 2 hours. More on this city →
• United States Chicago is always one hour behind New York, even though the flight between them takes barely two hours. More on this city →
• Europe Spain uses Central European Time even though most of the country lies on the same longitude as Britain; it moved its clocks in 1940 to match Germany and never moved back. More on this city →
• Time offsets Newfoundland, Canada runs half an hour off its neighbours, at UTC−3:30 in winter, so its clocks read :30 when Halifax reads :00.
• Daylight saving Lord Howe Island, off the coast of Australia, moves its clocks by just 30 minutes for daylight saving instead of a full hour.
• Time offsets New Zealand's Chatham Islands keep time at UTC+12:45, rising to UTC+13:45 in summer, one of the most unusual offsets on Earth. More on this city →
• Pacific Samoa skipped Friday, December 30, 2011 entirely when it moved to the other side of the International Date Line to line up with Australia and New Zealand.
• History Greenwich was chosen as the world's prime meridian at the International Meridian Conference held in Washington, D.C., in 1884. More on this city →
• History US railroads switched to standard time zones on November 18, 1883, a day often called “the day of two noons” because many towns reset their clocks at midday. More on this city →
• History Time zones only became US federal law with the Standard Time Act of 1918, which also introduced daylight saving time for the first time. More on this city →
• Mexico Mexico abolished daylight saving time nationwide in 2022, keeping it only in some municipalities along the US border. More on this city →
• United States Hawaii never observes daylight saving time, so it is 5 hours behind New York in winter and 6 hours behind in summer.
• Korea North Korea moved its clocks back 30 minutes in 2015 and returned to Seoul's time in 2018, so the two capitals once again show the same time. More on this city →
• Time offsets Venezuela used an unusual UTC−4:30 offset from 2007 to 2016 before returning to a whole-hour offset.
• France Counting its overseas territories, France spans 12 time zones, more than any other country. More on this city →
• History Leap seconds have been added to UTC 27 times since 1972, and the world's timekeeping authorities have voted to stop adding them by 2035.
• Türkiye Türkiye stopped changing its clocks in 2016 and now stays on UTC+3 all year, the same as Moscow. More on this city →
• Hong Kong Hong Kong last used daylight saving time in 1979 and has stayed on UTC+8 year-round ever since. More on this city →
• Egypt Egypt brought daylight saving time back in 2023 after years without it, so Cairo now moves its clocks each spring and autumn. More on this city →
• Argentina Argentina last observed daylight saving time in 2009, so Buenos Aires now stays on UTC−3 all year. More on this city →
• Thailand Thailand has never used daylight saving time; Bangkok sits on UTC+7 all year, the same as Jakarta and Ho Chi Minh City. More on this city →