A time zone is a region or area that observes the same standard time. The world is divided longitudinally into time zones, with each hour difference roughly 15 degrees apart. Due to some countries have half hour time zones, there are more than 24 times zones in the world. The starting point at which Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) starts is the Prime Meridian (zero degrees longitude). The International Date Line (IDL), located at 180 degrees longitude delineates one day from the next; time incrementally advances as one travels west of the IDL.

Most countries, especially the smaller ones, have only one time zone. There are 23 countries with at least two time zones (plus Antarctica which has at least ten unofficial time zones).

France Has the Most Time Zones

The country with the most time zones is France, mostly due to its various territories around the world. These time zones are:

UTC−10:00 — most of French Polynesia

UTC−09:30 — Marquesas Islands

UTC−09:00 — Gambier Islands

UTC−08:00 — Clipperton Island

UTC−04:00 (AST) — Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Martin

UTC−03:00 (PMST) — French Guiana, Saint Pierre and Miquelon

UTC+01:00 (CET) — Metropolitan France

UTC+03:00 — Mayotte

UTC+04:00 — Réunion

UTC+05:00 — Kerguelen Islands, Crozet Islands

UTC+11:00 — New Caledonia

UTC+12:00 — Wallis and Futuna

Countries With the Second Most Amount of Time Zones

The United States and Russia are tied for second place with eleven time zones each.

The United States has the following time zones:

UTC−12:00 (unofficial) — Baker Island and Howland Island

UTC−11:00 (ST) — American Samoa, Jarvis Island, Kingman Reef, Midway Atoll and Palmyra Atoll

UTC−10:00 (HAT) — Hawaii, most of the Aleutian Islands, and Johnston Atoll

UTC−09:00 (AKT) — most of the state of Alaska

UTC−08:00 (PT) — the states on the Pacific coast plus Nevada and parts of Idaho

UTC−07:00 (MT) — Arizona, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, parts of Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, Oregon, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Texas

UTC−06:00 (CT) — Gulf Coast, Tennessee Valley, U.S. Interior Highlands, Great Plains, and most of Texas

UTC−05:00 (ET) — the states on the Atlantic coast, the eastern two-thirds of the Ohio Valley, most of Michigan, Bajo Nuevo Bank, Navassa Island and Serranilla Bank

UTC−04:00 (AT) — Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Palmer Station

UTC+10:00 (ChT) — Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands

UTC+12:00 (unofficial) — Wake Island, McMurdo Station, and Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station

Russia has the following time zones:

UTC+02:00 (Kaliningrad Time) — Kaliningrad Oblast

UTC+03:00 (Moscow Time) — Most of European Russia and all railroads throughout Russia

UTC+04:00 (Samara Time) — Samara Oblast, Udmurtia

UTC+05:00 (Yekaterinburg Time) — Bashkortostan, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Khanty–Mansia, Kurgan Oblast, Orenburg Oblast, Perm Krai, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Tyumen Oblast, and Yamalia

UTC+06:00 (Omsk Time) — Altai Krai, Altai Republic, Kemerovo Oblast, Novosibirsk Oblast, Omsk Oblast and Tomsk Oblast

UTC+07:00 (Krasnoyarsk Time) — Khakassia, Krasnoyarsk Krai and Tuva

UTC+08:00 (Irkutsk Time) — Buryatia, Zabaykalsky Krai and Irkutsk Oblast

UTC+09:00 (Yakutsk Time) — Amur Oblast and western Sakha Republic

UTC+10:00 (Vladivostok Time) — The Jewish Autonomous Oblast, Khabarovsk Krai, Magadan Oblast, Primorsky Krai, central Sakha Republic and Sakhalin Island

UTC+11:00 (Srednekolymsk Time) — eastern Sakha and Kuril Islands

UTC+12:00 (Kamchatka Time) — Chukotka and Kamchatka Krai

Map of Time Zones in the World

See Also