How to Use: Time Zone Map

The map automatically highlights the time zone you hover over with your mouse cursor. If the wrong time zone appears to be highlighted when you hover over a land mass, this is usually not an error.

On land, time zone boundaries are distorted by political and geographical factors, so they often don't match the time zones at sea that are defined by their longitude. The offset is usually greatest when a country uses Daylight Saving Time.

When you hover over the map, all areas that currently share the same local time, on land and at sea, are highlighted. If you expect a country or territory to be highlighted, but it isn't, there can be several reasons:

• The country is highlighted but it's a little hard to see, especially if the country is small or if your screen is not large or bright enough.
• In many cases, time zones at sea are on a slightly different longitude than time zones on land. This means a country or territory may not be highlighted if you hover over the sea area above or below it. To find out which time zone the country or territory uses, please hover over the land area, not the ocean.

If you still believe that the highlighting functionality is faulty, please let us know.

The vertical lines at sea represent “ideal” time zones, each measuring 15 degrees longitude. They match the military time zones that use the NATO phonetic alphabet. (Read more about military time.) On land, time zone boundaries are distorted by political and geographical factors, so it can look like a country or area lies in the wrong time zone. For example, New Zealand's two main islands have the same local time, but the South Island geographically extends into a different “ideal” time zone.

In contrast to most time zone maps out there, which are static, our map is dynamic and shows areas that currently follow the same local time. This means that time zone boundaries shift every time a country switches between standard time and Daylight Saving Time (DST). Many countries switch to and from DST in the periods March-May and September-November, so you can expect the map to change quite frequently during those months.

By default, the map shows a small selection of locations as red dots. You can use the search field below the map to add more locations to the map. Here, you can choose from the 5000+ cities in our database.

Some of our services also include millions of additional locations provided by the GeoNames database. However, these GeoNames locations cannot be added to the Time Zone Map yet.

As with other disputed borders, we reflect the internationally accepted compromise. In Kashmir, the Time Zone Map shows the current de facto border between India and Pakistan ("Line of Control").

We don't. Rather, we show the de facto time zone border.

After annexing Crimea, Russia imposed Moscow Time (MSK) on the area. In Donetsk and Luhansk, the authorities, controlled by pro-Russian separatists, did the same.

This time zone is one hour ahead of Eastern European Standard Time (EEST), the time zone the rest of Ukraine observes when Daylight Saving Time (DST) is not in force. This is why Crimea and the Donbass are shown in a different color than the rest of the country during some parts of the year.

If you click on the following links, you can see that we continue to show all affected areas as integral parts of Ukraine:

• Crimea
• Donetsk
• Luhansk

Yes, the map always shows areas sharing the same current local time. When a country or territory switches to Daylight Saving Time by advancing its clocks by 1 hour, it joins the time zone east of its standard time zone and therefore appears in a different color than before the switch.

The map is divided into 25 main time zones. Each time zone is defined by the current time difference—or offset—from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the world's time standard. The offset of each time zone is shown in whole hours at the bottom of the map. Example: +3 means that the time zone is 3 hours ahead of UTC. On land, time zones are represented by areas of different colors, in international waters by gray lines.

The time difference between each time zone is usually one hour, except in the diagonally striped areas, where it can be half hours or even quarter hours. For example, India is 5:30 hours ahead of UTC.
Read more about odd time zones

The local time in international waters is defined by the longitude only. On land, however, political and geographical factors lead to distortions. That's also why land areas that share the same longitude with sea areas may not be in the same time zone (see “Why is the wrong time zone highlighted when I hover over the map?” above).

The red dots show a small selection of the thousands of cities in our database. If you hover over them, you will see their name, current local time, and more; click on them to find more information.

To add a city that is not yet shown by a red dot, enter its name into the search field below the map. A black marker will appear on the map indicating its location, accompanied by a marker and link below the map. Click that link to find more information about the city.

To remove city pins you have added by entering a city into the search field below the map, either re-open the map via the main navigation menu, or remove the part of the URL (web address) after /map/ and press enter.

The map shows the world's time zones in real-time, so all clock changes worldwide are reflected instantaneously.

The map shows a simplified version of the time zones at sea. Vessels and offshore platforms that operate within a country's exclusive economic zone or in the immediate vicinity of a landmass typically observe the current local time observed on land.

The number of time zones varies. You will find the current number of time zones here.

Yes and no. The map's version of the International Date Line, shown between Asia/the Pacific and the Americas, is not drawn to full accuracy for the sake of simplicity. However, its general location and its major bulges are represented correctly.

Unfortunately not. However, we offer a Time API that you can use to develop your own map using our time zone database.

The General FAQ Page answers your questions about timeanddate.com, our services, site-wide settings, customization options, advertising opportunities, and copyright policies.