Daylight saving time in Africa

Last updated

Time zones of Africa:

UTC-01:00
Cape Verde Time
UTC+-00:00
Greenwich Mean Time
UTC+01:00
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Central European Time
West Africa Time
UTC+02:00
Central Africa Time
Eastern European Time
Egypt Standard Time
South African Standard Time
UTC+03:00
East Africa Time
UTC+04:00
Mauritius Time
Seychelles Time
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The islands of Cape Verde are to the west of the African mainland.

Mauritius and the Seychelles are to the east and north-east of Madagascar respectively. TimeZones-Africa.svg
Time zones of Africa:
  UTC-01:00   Cape Verde Time
  UTC±00:00   Greenwich Mean Time
  UTC+01:00  
  UTC+02:00  
  UTC+03:00   East Africa Time
  UTC+04:00  
The islands of Cape Verde are to the west of the African mainland.
Mauritius and the Seychelles are to the east and north-east of Madagascar respectively.

African countries do not use daylight saving time (DST), although some did in the past. Only the territories of the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla (Spain) and Madeira (Portugal) implement DST from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October. Although these regions politically belong to Europe, they are geographically part of Africa. They have DST schedules according to European Union rules.

Contents

African countries that used to use DST

Egypt

The British first instituted daylight saving time in Egypt during the Second World War, specifically between 1940 and 1945. The practice was stopped after the war, but resumed 12 years later, in 1957.

Egypt normally observed daylight saving time between the last Friday in April and the last Thursday in September when the clocks were three hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (UTC+3). The change occurred one second after 23:59:59 on Thursday to become 1:00:00 on the last Friday in April shortening the day to 23 hours. Summer time ended one second after 23:59:59 to become 23:00:00 on the last Thursday of September lengthening the day to 25 hours. The date did not change one second after the first 23:59:59 occurred; for all practical purposes, midnight did not occur until after the second 23:59:59. An exception was made for Ramadan; in 2006 the end of DST took place one week earlier, on 21 September 2006, which took place before the start of the holy month of Ramadan. The same practice recurred in 2007 and 2008, to avoid having longer days in Ramadan. In 2009, summer time ended on Thursday, 20 August, five weeks before the nominal end on the last Thursday in September. In 2010, the summer time started on 30 April and ended on 30 September, but between 10 August and 10 September summer time was cancelled because of Ramadan. The previous government was planning to take a decision to abolish it in 2011 before the January 25 Revolution. The transitional government abolished daylight saving time on 20 April 2011. [1] On May 7, 2014, the Egyptian government restored daylight saving time starting on 16 May with an exception for the holy month of Ramadan. [2]

From 2015 onwards, Egypt no longer observes it. [3] On April 29, 2016, the Egyptian government made plans to restore daylight saving time starting on July 7th, 2016 during Eid al-Fitr, however later on July 4, 2016, the Egyptian government cancelled these plans to re-introduce DST.

Libya

Libya observed DST each year from 1982 to 1989, [4] 1997, [5] and 2013. [6]

Morocco

As of 2019, daylight saving time (DST) is no longer observed in Morocco, advancing to UTC+01:00 permanently since 2019.

Namibia

At Independence of Namibia the country inherited the time regulations of South Africa and was in time zone UTC+02:00 all year round. Triggered by fears for school children walking to school before sunrise, Namibian Standard Time, a type of winter time, was introduced in 1993. [7]

From 1994 until 2017 Namibia used Winter time, the practice of setting clocks back during winter months by one hour. In this period Namibian Standard Time was at UTC+02:00 Central Africa Time in summer, and UTC+01:00 (West Africa Time) in winter. Winter time began on the first Sunday in April at 03:00, and lasted until the first Sunday in September, 02:00 hours. In the Zambezi Region in the far north-east of Namibia clocks were not changed and remained on Central Africa Time all year round so that during winter time, Namibia spanned two time zones. [8]

In the 2010s repeated calls from businesses and private individuals were made to abolish winter time, citing incompatibilities with South Africa, Namibia's main trading partner, as well as a "loss of productivity". [8] The National Council passed the Namibian Time Bill 2017 in August 2017 and repealed the 1993 act, [9] placing Namibia back into the South African Standard Time zone of UTC+02:00.

Tunisia

Tunisia adopted daylight saving time for the first time in 2005 starting 1 May 2005 and following EU time schedules thereafter. This comes as a move by the government to promote saving of energy. In 2009 the government of Tunisia canceled DST and kept the standard time all year round.

African countries not using DST

These countries or regions do not use daylight saving time, although some have in the past:

  1. Flag of Algeria.svg  Algeria (Observed DST in 2002–2004)
  2. Flag of Angola.svg  Angola
  3. Flag of Benin.svg  Benin
  4. Flag of Botswana.svg  Botswana
  5. Flag of Burkina Faso.svg  Burkina Faso
  6. Flag of Burundi.svg  Burundi
  7. Flag of Cameroon.svg  Cameroon (Observed DST in 1968–1991; 2003–2009; 2013–2016)
  8. Flag of Cape Verde.svg  Cape Verde
  9. Flag of the Central African Republic.svg  Central African Republic
  10. Flag of Chad.svg  Chad (Observed DST in 2011–2014)
  11. Flag of the Comoros.svg  Comoros
  12. Flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.svg  Democratic Republic of the Congo
  13. Flag of the Republic of the Congo.svg  Republic of the Congo
  14. Flag of Cote d'Ivoire.svg  Côte d'Ivoire
  15. Flag of Djibouti.svg  Djibouti
  16. Flag of Egypt.svg  Egypt (Observed DST in 1999–2015)
  17. Flag of Equatorial Guinea.svg  Equatorial Guinea
  18. Flag of Eritrea.svg  Eritrea
  19. Flag of Eswatini.svg  Eswatini (Swaziland)
  20. Flag of Ethiopia.svg  Ethiopia
  21. Flag of Gabon.svg  Gabon
  22. Flag of The Gambia.svg  Gambia
  23. Flag of Ghana.svg  Ghana
  24. Flag of Guinea.svg  Guinea
  25. Flag of Guinea-Bissau.svg  Guinea-Bissau
  26. Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya
  27. Flag of Lesotho.svg  Lesotho
  28. Flag of Liberia.svg  Liberia
  29. Flag of Libya.svg  Libya
  30. Flag of Madagascar.svg  Madagascar
  31. Flag of Malawi.svg  Malawi
  32. Flag of Mali.svg  Mali
  33. Flag of Mauritania.svg  Mauritania
  34. Flag of Mauritius.svg  Mauritius
  35. Flag of France.svg  Mayotte
  36. Flag of Morocco.svg  Morocco
  37. Flag of Mozambique.svg  Mozambique
  38. Flag of Namibia.svg  Namibia
  39. Flag of Niger.svg  Niger
  40. Flag of Nigeria.svg  Nigeria
  41. Flag of Rwanda.svg  Rwanda
  42. Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
  43. Flag of Sao Tome and Principe.svg  São Tomé and Príncipe
  44. Flag of Senegal.svg  Senegal
  45. Flag of Seychelles.svg  Seychelles
  46. Flag of Sierra Leone.svg  Sierra Leone
  47. Flag of Somalia.svg  Somalia
  48. Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa (Observed DST in 1942-1944)
  49. Flag of South Sudan.svg  South Sudan
  50. Flag of Sudan.svg  Sudan
  51. Flag of Tanzania.svg  Tanzania
  52. Flag of Togo.svg  Togo
  53. Flag of Tunisia.svg  Tunisia
  54. Flag of Uganda.svg  Uganda
  55. Flag of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.svg  Western Sahara
  56. Flag of Zambia.svg  Zambia
  57. Flag of Zimbabwe.svg  Zimbabwe

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daylight saving time</span> Seasonal adjustment of clocks

Daylight saving time (DST), also referred to as daylight savings time or simply daylight time, and summer time, is the practice of advancing clocks during warmer months so that darkness falls at a later clock time. The typical implementation of DST is to set clocks forward by one hour in the spring, and to set clocks back by one hour in the fall to return to standard time. As a result, there is one 23-hour day in early spring and one 25-hour day in the middle of autumn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western European Summer Time</span> Time zone (UTC+01:00)

Western European Summer Time is a summer daylight saving time scheme, 1 hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time and Coordinated Universal Time. It is used in:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Summer time in Europe</span> Variation of standard clock time

Summer time in Europe is the variation of standard clock time that is applied in most European countries in the period between spring and autumn, during which clocks are advanced by one hour from the time observed in the rest of the year, with a view to making the most efficient use of seasonal daylight. It corresponds to the notion and practice of daylight saving time (DST) to be found in many other parts of the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central European Summer Time</span> Daylight savings time in the central European time zone

Central European Summer Time (CEST), sometimes referred to as Central European Daylight Time (CEDT), is the standard clock time observed during the period of summer daylight-saving in those European countries which observe Central European Time during the other part of the year. It corresponds to UTC+02:00, which makes it the same as Eastern European Time, Central Africa Time, South African Standard Time, Egypt Standard Time and Kaliningrad Time in Russia.

Time in New Zealand is divided by law into two standard time zones. The main islands use New Zealand Standard Time (NZST), 12 hours in advance of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) / military M (Mike), while the outlying Chatham Islands use Chatham Standard Time (CHAST), 12 hours 45 minutes in advance of UTC / military M^ (Mike-Three).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moscow Time</span> Time zone in western Russia (UTC+3)

Moscow Time is the time zone for the city of Moscow, Russia, and most of western Russia, including Saint Petersburg. It is the second-westernmost of the eleven time zones of Russia. It has been set to UTC+03:00 without DST since 26 October 2014; before that date it had been set to UTC+04:00 year-round on 27 March 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Time in Australia</span> Time zones in Australia

Australia uses three main time zones: Australian Western Standard Time, Australian Central Standard Time, and Australian Eastern Standard Time. Time is regulated by the individual state governments, some of which observe daylight saving time (DST). Australia's external territories observe different time zones.

Time in Chile is divided into three time zones. Most of Continental Chile uses the time offset UTC−04:00 in winter time and UTC−03:00 in summer time, while the Magallanes and Chilean Antarctica region uses the time offset UTC-03:00 the whole year. Additionally, Easter Island uses the time offset UTC−06:00 in winter time and UTC−05:00 in summer time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Egypt Standard Time</span> Time zone

Egypt Standard Time (EGY) is UTC+02:00, which is equivalent to Eastern European Time, Central Africa Time, South African Standard Time and Central European Summer Time, and is co-linear with neighbouring Libya and Sudan. Egypt has previously used Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+03:00), during the summer periods from 1957–2010 and 2014–15.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Africa Time</span> Time zone

Central Africa Time or CAT, is a time zone used in central and southern Africa. Central Africa Time is two hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+02:00), which is the same as the adjacent South Africa Standard Time, Egypt Standard Time, Eastern European Time, Kaliningrad Time and Central European Summer Time.

Pakistan has experimented with Daylight Saving Time (DST) a number of times since 2002, shifting local time from UTC+05:00 to UTC+06:00 during various summer periods.

Daylight saving time in the Americas is the arrangement in the Americas by which clocks are advanced by one hour in spring and moved back in autumn, to make the most of seasonal daylight. The practice is widespread in North America, with most of Canada and the United States participating, but much less so in Central and South America.

Daylight saving time is not used in Egypt, however it has been used several times in the past, most recently in 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daylight saving time in Morocco</span>

As of 2018, daylight saving time (DST) is permanently observed in Morocco. Previously, time was advanced to UTC+01:00 at 02:00 on the last Sunday of March, and reverted to UTC±00:00, defined as Greenwich Mean Time locally, at 03:00 on the last Sunday of October. This practice was continued through October 2018, after which clocks were permanently advanced. An exception was made during the month of Ramadan during which clocks reverted to UTC+00:00.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daylight saving time in Asia</span>

As of 2022, daylight saving time is used in the following Asian countries:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Time in Portugal</span> Time zones in Portugal

Portugal has two time zones and observes daylight saving time. Continental Portugal and Madeira use UTC+00:00, while the Azores use UTC–01:00. Daylight saving time is observed nationwide from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October, when continental Portugal and Madeira advance one hour to UTC+01:00, and the Azores advances one hour to UTC+00:00.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daylight saving time by country</span>

Daylight saving time (DST), also known as summer time, is the practice of advancing clocks during part of the year, typically by one hour around spring and summer, so that daylight ends at a later time of the day. As of 2023, DST is observed in most of Europe, most of North America and parts of Asia around the Northern Hemisphere summer, and in parts of South America and Oceania around the Southern Hemisphere summer. It was also formerly observed in other areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winter time (clock lag)</span> Aspect of daylight saving time

Winter time is the practice of shifting the clock back during winter months, usually −1 hour. It is a form of daylight saving time which is the opposite compensation to the summer time. However, while summer time is widely applied, use of winter time has been and is very rare.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Time in Namibia</span>

Namibia since September 2017 is in the Central Africa Time zone at UTC+02:00, congruous with South African Standard Time.

Africa, the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, spans across six different time zone offsets from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC): UTC−01:00 to UTC+04:00. As Africa straddles the equator and tropics, there is little change in daylight hours throughout the year and as such daylight saving time is currently observed in only one country, Morocco, however it was also previously observed in several other countries.

References

  1. "Egypt to cancel daylight saving time".
  2. "Daylight saving to be applied in Egypt starting Friday".
  3. "Egypt: No DST in 2015 After All".
  4. Daylight saving time dates for Libya - Tripoli between 1980 and 1989, Time and Date.
  5. Daylight saving time dates for Libya - Tripoli between 1900 and 1909, Time and Date.
  6. Libya Changes Time Zone, Time and Date, November 10, 2012.
  7. Dierks, Klaus. "Chronology of Namibian History, 136". klausdierks.com. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  8. 1 2 "GRN evaluates winter time change". New Era . 24 March 2016. p. 1.
  9. Nakale, Albertina (9 August 2017). "National Council passes Time Bill in favour of summer time". New Era . p. 1. Archived from the original on 20 July 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2018.