World Time Zones Guide
Explore 25 major time zones around the world. Learn about UTC offsets, daylight saving time, and which countries use each time zone.
PST
Pacific Standard Time
Pacific Standard Time (PST) is 8 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC-8). This time zone covers the west coast o...
MST
Mountain Standard Time
Mountain Standard Time (MST) is 7 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC-7). This time zone covers the Rocky Mount...
CST
Central Standard Time
Central Standard Time (CST) is 6 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC-6). This time zone covers the central Unit...
EST
Eastern Standard Time
Eastern Standard Time (EST) is 5 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC-5). This time zone is used in the eastern ...
BRT
Brasília Time
Brasília Time (BRT) is 3 hours behind UTC. It's the official time in most of Brazil, including São Paulo and Rio de Jane...
ART
Argentina Time
Argentina Time (ART) is 3 hours behind UTC. It's the standard time used throughout Argentina....
GMT
Greenwich Mean Time
Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London. It's the baseline for al...
CET
Central European Time
Central European Time (CET) is 1 hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+1). It covers most of Western and Central...
WAT
West Africa Time
West Africa Time (WAT) is 1 hour ahead of UTC. It's used in several West African countries including Nigeria....
EET
Eastern European Time
Eastern European Time (EET) is 2 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+2). This time zone covers Eastern Europe...
MSK
Moscow Standard Time
Moscow Standard Time (MSK) is 3 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+3). Russia's capital operates on this tim...
EAT
East Africa Time
East Africa Time (EAT) is 3 hours ahead of UTC. It covers East African countries including Kenya, Ethiopia, and Tanzania...
GST
Gulf Standard Time
Gulf Standard Time (GST) is 4 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+4). This time zone is used in the Persian G...
IST
India Standard Time
India Standard Time (IST) is 5 hours and 30 minutes ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+5:30). It's the time zone u...
ICT
Indochina Time
Indochina Time (ICT) is 7 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+7). It covers Southeast Asian countries includi...
WIB
Western Indonesia Time
Western Indonesia Time (WIB) is 7 hours ahead of UTC. It covers western Indonesia including Java, Sumatra, and West/Cent...
CST
China Standard Time
China Standard Time (CST) is 8 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+8). Despite China's vast size, the entire ...
HKT
Hong Kong Time
Hong Kong Time (HKT) is 8 hours ahead of UTC. It's used in Hong Kong and is the same as China Standard Time....
SGT
Singapore Time
Singapore Standard Time (SGT) is 8 hours ahead of UTC. Singapore is a major financial hub operating on this time zone....
PHT
Philippine Time
Philippine Standard Time (PHT) is 8 hours ahead of UTC. It's used throughout the Philippines....
AWST
Australian Western Standard Time
Australian Western Standard Time (AWST) is 8 hours ahead of UTC. It covers Western Australia....
JST
Japan Standard Time
Japan Standard Time (JST) is 9 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+9). This time zone is used in Japan and So...
KST
Korea Standard Time
Korea Standard Time (KST) is 9 hours ahead of UTC. It's used in both South Korea and North Korea....
AEST
Australian Eastern Standard Time
Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) is 10 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+10). It covers Australia's ...
NZST
New Zealand Standard Time
New Zealand Standard Time (NZST) is 12 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+12). New Zealand is among the firs...
Understanding World Time Zones
The world is divided into 24 standard time zones, each roughly 15 degrees of longitude wide. Time zones are based on Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), with offsets ranging from UTC-12 to UTC+14. This system ensures that local time roughly corresponds to the position of the sun in the sky.
What is UTC?
UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is effectively equivalent to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and serves as the reference point for all other time zones. UTC does not observe daylight saving time.
Daylight Saving Time
Many countries observe daylight saving time (DST), advancing clocks by one hour during warmer months to extend evening daylight. However, DST practices vary widely - some countries do not observe it at all, while others have recently abolished it. Always check specific time zone pages for current DST information.
Major Time Zones by Region
North America
North America uses multiple time zones including Eastern (EST/EDT), Central (CST/CDT), Mountain (MST/MDT), and Pacific (PST/PDT). Most areas observe daylight saving time from March to November.
Europe
Europe primarily uses Western European Time (WET/GMT), Central European Time (CET), and Eastern European Time (EET). Most EU countries synchronize their daylight saving time changes.
Asia
Asia spans numerous time zones, from UTC+5 (Pakistan) to UTC+9 (Japan, Korea). Notably, China uses a single time zone (UTC+8) despite its large geographic size, and most Asian countries do not observe daylight saving time.