Daylight Saving Time
Half the world ignores it; the other half springs forward and falls back twice a year. Here's where DST is observed right now, when each region next changes its clocks, and why.
Upcoming clock changes
What is Daylight Saving Time?
Daylight Saving Time (DST) is the practice of advancing clocks by one hour during warmer months, then setting them back in autumn. The rationale: shift an hour of daylight from the early morning, when most people are asleep, to the evening, when more people are awake to use it.
The first national use was Germany in 1916, during World War I, to save coal. The UK, US, and most of Europe quickly followed. Today about 70 countries still observe some form of DST, but the global trend has been to abolish it — Russia (2011), most of Brazil (2019), and Mexico (2022) have all dropped it in the past 15 years.
Where DST is observed
🇺🇸 United States (most states)
Hawaii and most of Arizona stay on standard time year-round. US territories (Puerto Rico, USVI, Guam, etc.) don't observe DST either.
🇨🇦 Canada (most provinces)
Most of Saskatchewan, plus parts of British Columbia and Quebec, don't observe DST. Yukon abolished DST in 2020.
🇪🇺 European Union + 🇬🇧 UK
All clocks change simultaneously across the EU + UK. Iceland, Belarus, Russia, and Turkey are the European holdouts that don't observe DST.
🇦🇺 Australia (NSW, VIC, SA, TAS, ACT)
Queensland, Northern Territory, and Western Australia stay on standard time. The 1971 split caused decades of debate; multiple referendums to adopt DST in QLD and WA have failed.
🇳🇿 New Zealand
Chatham Islands also observe DST (with the same 45-minute offset year-round).
🇨🇱 Chile (mainland)
Magallanes region in the far south stays on summer time year-round (effectively no DST shift).
Where DST is not observed
Most of the world's population doesn't change their clocks twice a year. Notable countries that don't observe DST:
- All of Africa except Morocco (which observes a modified year-round +1 schedule)
- Most of Asia — China, India, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Pakistan, Vietnam, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, etc. never adopted it
- Russia (abolished 2011 — went on permanent winter time)
- Brazil (abolished 2019)
- Mexico (abolished 2022, except some northern border municipalities)
- Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, most of South America
- Turkey (abolished 2016, on permanent +3 since)
- Iceland, Belarus, Greenland (mostly), Faroe Islands (mixed)
The "permanent DST" debate
There's growing political momentum to stop changing the clocks. The proposals usually come in two flavors:
- Permanent standard time — keep winter time year-round. Favored by sleep researchers (better alignment with circadian rhythms, especially in winter).
- Permanent DST — keep summer time year-round. Favored by retail and recreation industries (more usable evening daylight). The US Senate passed the Sunshine Protection Act in 2022 but it stalled in the House.
The EU passed a directive in 2019 to abolish the seasonal change, leaving each member state to choose its permanent offset. Implementation has been delayed indefinitely as countries can't agree on which time to keep.
Common questions
Why does the time change at 2:00 AM?
Why don't the US and Europe change on the same dates?
Does DST actually save energy?
Why are Australia's seasons "backwards"?
Why does Indiana have weird DST history?
Each city panel shows local time with DST automatically applied.