If you want to find out which are the 10 countries that have the most time zones, you’ve come to the right place.
Time zone is usually defined as a region of the globe that has a same standard time. Each time zone is calculated based on Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) which represents the primary time standard in the world. Coordinated Universal Time replaced Greenwich Meridian Time (GMT), which was previously used to regulate clocks and time. UTC is more precise than GMT since it takes into consideration the leap seconds. Leap seconds are added to the UTC to keep it close to mean solar time, which is a time that is calculated using the motion of the mean sun. UTC is calculated using International Atomic Time (TAI) and Universal Time. International Atomic Time uses combined atomic clocks to determine the speed of clock’s ticking while the Universal Time uses Earth’s rotation and is GMT’s successor. Where do the time zones fit, you may ask? Before you find out, consider checking out our list of 10 Freest Countries in the World.
Well, time zones are a must if we want to keep the world in line. Each time zone represents a positive or negative offset from UTC. UTC is placed on the prime meridian and its longitude is 0°. Heading east, each 15° longitude marks one hour behind UTC and one time zone. Heading west, each 15° longitude marks one hour ahead of UTC. So, due to this, countries with large territory have different time zones. At least some of them do. For example, China and India should have different time zones, but that isn’t the case since these countries decided to apply one time zone to the whole territory. If China, for example, decided to use time zones based on 15° longitude rule, there would be approximately 8 time zones in the country. Some countries don’t use the “full hour offset” from UTC like India, which has an offset of UTC +5:30.
UTC does not recognize the daylight saving time, so the countries that use this have one hour added or subtracted to the offset from UTC depending on their location. Daylight saving time is achieved by adjusting the clock one hour forward to get one additional hour of daylight in the summer. This practice has faced with much criticism recently and some countries are abandoning it. One of the examples is Russia since the country recently decided to stick with standard time all year round. Some countries decided to implement daylight saving time through the whole year instead of standard time, like Argentina. Still, the practice of daylight saving time is used in the United States and most of Europe.
To find out which countries belong to our list of 10 countries that have the most time zones we took the data from World Atlas that has accounted in the time zones for overseas territories of the countries as well. Note that each time zone is stated in UTC offset and used as a standard time in a particular country or territory. Without further ado, here is our list.
10. Mexico
Number of Time Zones: 4
Since 2015, Mexico officially has 4 time zones. UTC−06:00 zone covers most of Mexico’s central region, including its major cities Mexico City and Guadalajara. UTC−05:00 zone is used in southeast regions of the country while UTC−07:00 is used in the Pacific area covering Baja California Sur and Chihuahua among others. The northwest region including Tijuana uses UTC−08:00 zone. It is also important to notice that central, northwest and some parts of Pacific regions use daylight saving time.
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9. Brazil
Number of Time Zones: 4
Just like Mexico, Brazil which ranks 9th in our list of countries that have the most time zones, uses 4 time zones. UTC−02:00 is used in a couple of country’s small islands. UTC−03:00 is used in the major part of Brazil (60% of the country’s territory) including the capital of the country, Brasilia. This is Brazil’s main time zone and 94% of the population lives in this time zone. The two remaining time zones are UTC−04:00 and UTC−05:00 used in the western parts of the country. Although together they cover 40% of the country’s territory, only about 12 million people live in these 2 time zones.
8. New Zealand
Number of Time Zones: 5
Although the main island and the territory we percept as New Zealand only uses UTC+12:00 time zone, there are 4 more time zones used by other islands which are considered as the country’s territory. The Chatham Islands, located southeast of the Main Island, use UTC+12:45. Far east from the main island, there are 3 more New Zealand territories; Tokelau, Cook Islands, and Niue. These territories use UTC+13:00, UTC−10:00 and UTC−11:00 respectively. New Zealand’s main island and the Chatham Islands use daylight saving time.
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7. The Kingdom of Denmark
Number of Time Zones: 5
The Kingdom of Denmark ranks 7th on our list of countries that have the most time zones. It has 5 time zones mostly thanks to Greenland, which accounts for four of them. Although Greenland has a certain autonomy, the Danish governments still control the most important aspects of ruling the territory. Mainland Denmark belongs to UTC+1 and uses daylight saving time. Greenland uses UTC±0 on the northeast coast, UTC-1 on the east coast, UTC-3 on the west coast and UTC-4 in parts of the Thule Air Base. UTC±0 is used in the Faroe Islands as well, which is another territory ruled by Denmark.
6. Canada
Number of Time Zones: 6
Being such a large country, it is only natural that Canada has this many time zones. UTC−08:00 applies to the region located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean and mostly uses daylight saving time. UTC−07:00 is used in British Columbia, parts of Nunavut and Alberta region, with the last one using the daylight saving time. UTC−06:00 is used in the central parts of the country and uses daylight saving time except for Saskatchewan. UTC−05:00 applies to most of Quebec while UTC−04:00 is used by the region located on the Atlantic Ocean coast. Lastly, Newfoundland belongs to UTC−03:30.
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5. Australia
Number of Time Zones: 8
Numbers of time zones on our list of 10 countries that have the most time zones are surely getting bigger. Because of that, we will cover just the time zones where the majority of the population lives. The mainland Australia uses 3 different time zones. The Western part of Australia uses UTC+08:00 without daylight saving time. The Central part of Australia uses UTC+09:30, with south region using the daylight saving time. The Eastern part uses UTC+10:00 and like in the central part, the south region uses daylight saving time.
4. The United Kingdom
Number of Time Zones: 9
The main part of the United Kingdom stubbornly uses Greenwich Mean Time, although geographically it belongs to Central European Time which corresponds to UTC+01:00. There were multiple initiatives to abandon the Greenwich Mean Time, but none of them came to fruition except the short experimental period from 1968 to 1971. Other 8 time zones are used by overseas territories that are scattered around the globe. And now, let’s see the top three on our list of countries that have the most time zones.
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3. Russia
Number of Time Zones: 11
Throughout the years there were many changes when it comes to time zones and time tracking in Russia. The time zone boundaries changed 7 times, first change happening in 1993 and last in 2016. Since March 2011 Russia, the number three on our list of countries that have the most time zones abandoned the practice of daylight saving time labeling it as unpractical. There were also abolitions and reinstating of some time zones. The government’s abolition of two time zones in 2010 faced with much criticism and protests, so they had to be brought back. Time zones in Russia spawn from UTC+02:00 to UTC+12:00. The most populous time zone with close to 90 million inhabitants is UTC+03, which covers most of European part of Russia including the capital Moscow. The least populous is UTC+12 that cover far eastern regions of the country including Chukotka and Kamchatka Krai where close to 400,000 people live.
2. The United States
Number of Time Zones: 11
Although by law, there are 9 time zones in the United States, which ranks second on our list of countries that have the most time zones. In reality, there are two more. These time zones are used in the United States Minor Outlying Islands and Antarctic research stations. Out of the 9 that are defined by law, 4 belong to the mainland. UTC−05:00 or Eastern Time Zone (ET) completely covers 17 states and is used in the Atlantic Ocean coast region. UTC−6:00 or North American Central Time Zone (CT) is used in the central part of the country and covers 21 states (in full or partially). UTC−7:00 or Mountain Time Zone covers 14 states (in full or partially). Lastly, UTC−8:00 or Pacific Time Zone covers the region of Pacific Ocean coast including California, Washington, Nevada, almost all of Oregon and north half of Idaho. All of these parts of the United States use daylight saving time. Alaska uses UTC−09:00 time zone while Hawaii is covered by UTC−10:00. The time zones UTC−04:00, UTC−11:00, UTC+10:00 are used by Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and Guam respectively.
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1. France
Number of Time Zones: 12
You never imagined that France could be on top of our 10 countries that have the most time zones, did you? Crazy as it sounds; France holds the title of the country with most time zones in the world. Mainland France uses UTC+01:00 as standard time and UTC+02:00 as daylight saving time. But, there are 13 France’s overseas territories that use 11 different time zones ranging from French Guiana that uses UTC−03:00, Réunion using UTC+03:00 to UTC+12:00 used by Wallis and Futuna. Somehow, we have a feeling that France cheated its way into our list. All these different time zones must be a real trouble for the French government, but they are to blame for wanting to have territories all over the world.
