Daylight Saving Time (DST)

Twice a year a large minority of the world moves its clocks, and for a few weeks the familiar offsets between countries stop applying. The change dates rarely match, the rules differ from one country to the next, and the exceptions are the interesting part.

What Is Daylight Saving Time? covers the mechanics and the reasoning behind them, while When Do the Clocks Change? gives the dates for both hemispheres, which is the thing worth checking before you agree a call in March or October. If the question is simply whether a country is affected at all, Countries That Do Not Use Daylight Saving Time has the short answer: most of the planet, including nearly all of Asia and Africa. Will Daylight Saving Time Be Abolished? follows the European and American attempts to stop the practice, both of which have been close for years without arriving.

Guides in this section (6)

What Is Daylight Saving Time? What actually happens on the two nights a year the clocks move, where the idea came from, and the argument that has kept it alive for a century.
Countries That Do Not Use Daylight Saving Time Most of the world never touches its clocks. Which countries those are, and why the practice makes little sense near the equator.
Why Japan Does Not Use DST Japan ran summer time under the post-war occupation, dropped it as soon as it could, and has argued about bringing it back ever since.
Daylight Saving Time in the United States Explained The federal rules, the states and territories that opt out, and where the recurring attempts to make one clock permanent currently stand.
When Do the Clocks Change? DST Dates Around the World Change dates for the northern and southern hemispheres side by side, and the weeks each year when the usual offsets stop applying.
Will Daylight Saving Time Be Abolished? How far the European and American efforts to stop changing the clocks have actually got, and what has stalled both of them.

Other guide sections

This is one of 8 sections in the library. The others cover Time Zones, Business & Remote Work, Travel, Interesting Facts, City Comparison, Country Guides and Time & Astronomy. The guides index lists every article we have published in one place.