World Time Zone Map
A world time zone map covering every offset from UTC−12 to UTC+14, with the countries and cities that keep each one.
Reading the map
The bands run from UTC−12 in the Pacific to UTC+14 at the Line Islands, twenty-six hours wide in total — more than a day, which is why there is always a moment when three different calendar dates exist somewhere on Earth.
The dots are the cities in this site’s database, plotted by their real coordinates, and the marker shows where your own zone sits. The table underneath lists each offset with the countries and cities that keep it.
Why the lines are not straight
Time zone borders are political, not geometric. They follow national frontiers, provincial lines and occasionally a river or a mountain range, which is why the bands on any real map zigzag instead of running straight down the meridians.
The extremes are stranger than the middle. UTC+14 in Kiribati exists because the country moved the date line east in 1995 so that its whole territory shared one calendar day. China’s single zone stretches an offset designed for the coast across four thousand kilometres of interior. Spain sits west of Greenwich but keeps central European time, a wartime decision never reversed.
Questions people ask
How wide is the world in time?
Twenty-six hours, from UTC−12 to UTC+14. That is more than a day, which is why three different calendar dates exist somewhere on Earth for part of every day.
Which time zone has the most people?
UTC+8, covering China, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Western Australia — well over a billion people.
Why are the boundaries not straight lines?
Because they are political. They follow national borders, provincial lines and occasionally a river, rather than the meridians.
What are the dots on the map?
Every city in this site’s database, plotted at its real coordinates. The marker shows where your own zone sits.
Which country is furthest ahead?
Kiribati, at UTC+14 in the Line Islands, which sees the new year before anywhere else.
Which is furthest behind?
Baker and Howland Islands at UTC−12, uninhabited US territories in the Pacific.
Why does Spain use central European time?
It sits west of Greenwich but adopted Berlin time in 1940 and never went back, which is why Spanish daily life runs an hour later than its neighbours.
Does anywhere have no time zone?
Antarctica has no single one. Research stations usually keep the time of their supply country, so neighbouring bases can be hours apart.
How are time zones at sea decided?
Nautical time divides the ocean into fifteen-degree segments from Greenwich, though ships often keep the time of their destination port.
Do any countries share a border but not an hour?
Plenty. The China–Afghanistan border carries a jump of three and a half hours, the largest anywhere.
Why does the map show bands rather than country shapes?
Because the offset is the useful information here. The city dots give the geography, and the country pages give the exact zones each one keeps.
How often does this map need updating?
Whenever a country changes its rules. The underlying database is revised several times a year, and the map reads from it rather than from a fixed drawing.
Where to go next
Bookmark or share time zone map directly. Everything else is one step away on current time around the world.
- World Clock — pick a country or city and read its clock, offset and daylight saving rules
- Time zone converter — turn a time in one place into the same instant in another
- Time difference calculator — two cities side by side, hour by hour, for a whole day
- 24 hour clock — a dial that turns once a day, and how to read 24-hour time
- world time — the current time in every country, territory and US state