Daylight Saving Time
Understand why daylight saving rules vary and check current local times safely.
Clock-change rules are political decisions and can change at short notice.
Country table withdrawn
The previous table used manually entered country rules. It has been removed because one country can contain several time-zone rule sets, and governments can change offsets or clock-change dates with little notice.
Use a city-based time-zone tool for current conversions. For implementation and historical research, consult the maintained IANA Time Zone Database.
About daylight saving time
What is DST?
Daylight saving time (DST) advances civil clocks during part of the year to shift daylight into the evening. The size, timing and existence of a clock change depend on the law applying to the specific location.
When do clocks change?
In the Northern Hemisphere, clocks typically "spring forward" in March–April and "fall back" in October–November. In the Southern Hemisphere (e.g. Australia, New Zealand, Chile), the pattern is reversed — spring forward in September–October, fall back in April. To convert times between cities accounting for current DST, try the timezone converter.
Europe harmonisation
All EU member states currently change clocks on the same dates: the last Sunday in March (spring forward) and the last Sunday in October (fall back). The EU has proposed ending DST, but no final decision has been implemented.
US DST rules
The US moves clocks forward on the second Sunday in March and back on the first Sunday in November. The Sunshine Protection Act, which would make DST permanent, passed the Senate in 2022 but has not been signed into law. See the world clock to compare current times in DST and non-DST countries.
Worked example
In 2026, most of the US changes on 8 March, while the UK changes on 29 March. For those 21 days, the New York–London time difference is one hour shorter than usual. Confirm travel and meeting times with the timezone converter.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I check a location?
Use a city-based time-zone identifier rather than a country-wide rule. The timezone converter uses the time-zone data available in your browser to apply the relevant offset for the date selected.
What is daylight saving time?
Daylight saving time (DST) advances civil clocks during part of the year to shift daylight into the evening. Although one hour is common, rules are set locally and should not be inferred from a country name alone.
Why was the country table removed?
A static table becomes misleading when legislation changes or when regions inside one country follow different rules. Maintained location-based data is safer for current conversions.
Where do time-zone applications get their rules?
Most operating systems and browsers ultimately rely on periodically updated time-zone data. The IANA Time Zone Database records location-based offsets and clock transitions used by software vendors.
Evidence & Methodology
How This Page Is Grounded
Method
Determines seasonal offset changes from IANA time-zone rules for representative locations rather than assigning one permanent rule to an entire country.
Important limitation: DST rules are political and can change with little notice; countries with multiple zones require location-specific results.
Primary Sources
- Time Zone Database Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
- Daylight Saving Time National Institute of Standards and Technology
Quality Checks
The withdrawn country-wide table is not used; transition dates are checked by IANA zone and year.
See how sources are selected and corrections are handled in our Editorial & Calculation Methodology, and which automated checks this page has to pass in How We Test.