Countries That Do Not Use Daylight Saving Time
Daylight Saving Time (DST)
Daylight Saving Time often feels universal, but it is not. Only about a third of the world’s countries change their clocks twice a year. The large majority — including the most populous nations on Earth — keep the same UTC offset all year round. This guide looks at which countries do not use DST, and why.
- Most of the world does not observe DST; only around 70 countries do.
- Almost all of Asia and Africa, plus many equatorial nations, have never adopted it.
- Several countries tried DST and later dropped it — including Russia, Turkey, Brazil and most of Mexico.
- Even inside DST countries some regions opt out, such as Arizona and Hawaii in the US and Queensland in Australia.
How Many Countries Skip DST?
Roughly 70 countries use some form of Daylight Saving Time, which means well over half of the world’s nations do not. When you count by population the gap is even wider, because the two largest countries on the planet — China and India — both stay on a single fixed offset throughout the year. For billions of people, the idea of putting the clocks forward in spring and back in autumn is simply not part of life.
Why Some Countries Never Adopted DST
The benefit of Daylight Saving Time depends on how much daylight shifts between summer and winter, and that depends on latitude. The closer you are to the equator, the less the picture changes:
- Near the equator there is little to gain. Countries in the tropics get roughly 12 hours of daylight every day of the year. The sun rises and sets at almost the same time in June and December, so moving the clocks would achieve nothing.
- Large single-zone countries value simplicity. China spans five geographic time zones but runs the whole country on one clock (UTC+08:00). Adding seasonal changes on top of that would create more confusion than it solves.
- The savings are disputed. Modern studies find the energy savings from DST to be small or negligible, while the disruption to sleep and schedules is real. Some countries have decided the trade-off is not worth it.
Major Countries That Do Not Use DST
These are some of the largest and most travelled-to countries that keep a constant offset from UTC all year:
| Country / region | Standard offset | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| China | UTC+08:00 | One time zone nationwide; has never used DST |
| India | UTC+05:30 | Single half-hour offset, no DST |
| Japan | UTC+09:00 | No DST since shortly after World War II |
| Russia | UTC+02:00 to +12:00 | Abolished DST in 2011 |
| Most of Africa | varies | Very few African countries observe DST |
| Argentina | UTC−03:00 | No DST in recent years |
| Turkey | UTC+03:00 | Permanent summer time since 2016 |
| Iceland | UTC+00:00 | Stays on GMT year-round |
| Singapore | UTC+08:00 | No DST; same offset all year |
| UAE & most Gulf states | UTC+04:00 | No DST |
To check whether a place is currently observing DST, open its city page on this site — the live UTC offset and DST status are shown next to the clock.
Countries That Tried DST and Abandoned It
Not using DST is not always a permanent choice that a country was born with. Several nations experimented with the clock change for years or decades, then decided to stop:
- Russia stopped switching clocks in 2011 and settled on permanent standard time a few years later.
- Turkey abandoned the twice-yearly change in 2016 and now stays on UTC+03:00 all year.
- Brazil ended DST in 2019, citing limited energy savings and the disruption it caused.
- Mexico scrapped DST for most of the country in 2022, keeping it only in a strip of municipalities near the US border.
Japan is a particularly clear example of a country that rejected DST and never went back — see Why Japan Does Not Use DST for the full story.
Regions That Opt Out Within DST Countries
DST is not always all-or-nothing at the national level. Some countries observe it in most places but let certain regions sit it out:
- United States. Almost the entire country changes its clocks, but Hawaii and most of Arizona (the Navajo Nation being the exception) stay on standard time all year.
- Australia. The southern and eastern states use DST in summer, but Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia do not.
- Canada. Most of the country observes DST, but the bulk of Saskatchewan keeps a fixed offset year-round.
How This Affects Time Differences
Because DST countries change their offset twice a year while non-DST countries do not, the time difference between two places is not always constant. For a few weeks each spring and autumn the gap can be an hour larger or smaller than usual, until both regions have finished switching — or, if one of them never switches, the difference simply moves with the side that does. This is one reason that recording events in UTC, which never changes, avoids confusion. For more on how these rules fit together, see How Time Zones Work Around the World.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does most of the world use Daylight Saving Time?
No. Only about 70 countries observe DST, so the majority do not. Counted by population the gap is even larger, because China and India — the two most populous countries — both keep a fixed offset all year.
Why do countries near the equator not use DST?
Near the equator the length of the day barely changes between seasons, so shifting the clocks would bring no extra evening daylight. There is simply nothing to gain.
Does China use Daylight Saving Time?
No. China runs the entire country on a single time zone (UTC+08:00) and does not change the clocks at any point in the year.
Which US states do not change their clocks?
Hawaii and most of Arizona stay on standard time all year. Everywhere else in the United States observes DST. For background on the practice itself, see What Is Daylight Saving Time?