What countries have a surprising number of time zones? I’ll admit I often don’t think of the time zones of a given country when reading about world news. However, today’s list takes a look at countries that have far more time zones than you might expect.
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The DRC is a fairly large country in Africa. It starts off our list with 2 time zones, which is honestly surprising.
- UTC +01:00
- UTC +02:00
Kiribati
Kiribati is part of the region known as Oceania. You’ll also find countries like Australia and New Zealand lumped into the region. With 3 time zones, the small country has a surprising number of time zones.
- UTC +12:00
- UTC +13:00
- UTC +14:00
Chile
Chile is a larger country in South America and has 3 time zones. This gives it a surprising number of time zones, especially considering how many are part of the mainland.
- UTC -06:00
- UTC -04:00
- UTC -03:00
Indonesia
Indonesia is one of the largest countries in Southeast Asia. With 3 time zones to account for, it has the most in the region.
- UTC +07:00
- UTC +08:00
- UTC +09:00
Mexico
North America has three massive countries on the continent. Mexico has a surprising number of time zones, coming in only at 4. That does account for everything within the country’s borders, however.
- UTC -08:00
- UTC -07:00
- UTC -06:00
- UTC -05:00
Brazil
Brazil is the largest country in all of South America and has a surprising number of time zones to back that up. It has a total of 4, which includes the islands off the Brazillian coast.
- UTC -05:00
- UTC -04:00
- UTC -03:00
- UTC -02:00
New Zealand
New Zealand is similar to its neighbor in Oceania, Australia. While the country only has 5 time zones, that is still quite a surprising number of time zones considering the size of the islands.
- UTC -11:00
- UTC -10:00
- UTC +12:00
- UTC +12:45
- UTC +13:00
Denmark
Denmark also includes places like Greenland, which is considered a Danish holding despite being autonomous.
- UTC -04:00
- UTC -03:00
- UTC -01:00
- UTC +00:00
- UTC +01:00
Canada
Canada is a big place, and with a surprising 6 time zones it has more than earned a place on this list.
- UTC -08:00
- UTC -07:00
- UTC -06:00
- UTC -05:00
- UTC -04:00
- UTC -03:30
The United Kingdom
The United Kingdom is the least shocking entry for any country with a surprising number of time zones. At 9 in total, I’m honestly more surprised it doesn’t have more time zones across the globe to account for.
- UTC -08:00
- UTC -05:00
- UTC -04:00
- UTC -03:00
- UTC -02:00
- UTC +00:00
- UTC +01:00
- UTC +02:00
- UTC +06:00
Australia
Australia comes in at 9 time zones, which includes the islands surrounding the main continent. This ties it up with the United Kingdom, which has holdings around much of the world still.
- UTC +05:00
- UTC +06:30
- UTC +07:00
- UTC +08:00
- UTC +08:45
- UTC +09:30
- UTC +10:00
- UTC +10:30
- UTC +11:00
The United States of America
The United States is tied up with Russia at 11. It does have a surprising number of time zones. This does account for more than just the contiguous United States, Hawaii, and Alaska, however.
- UTC -12:00
- UTC -11:00
- UTC -10:00
- UTC -09:00
- UTC -08:00
- UTC -07:00
- UTC -06:00
- UTC -05:00
- UTC -04:00
- UTC +10:00
- UTC +12:00
Russia
Russia probably isn’t a shock, despite having a surprising number of time zones. All of Russia’s account for the sheer size of the country, with all recorded timezones corresponding to places within Russia’s borders.
- UTC +02:00
- UTC +03:00
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- UTC +06:00
- UTC +07:00
- UTC +08:00
- UTC +09:00
- UTC +10:00
- UTC +11:00
- UTC +12:00
France
France has a total of 13, rounding out the list of countries with a surprising number of time zones. This encompasses various territories held by France, with places like the Crozet Islands, Saint Paul, and New Caledonia beyond just the mainland.
- UTC -10:00
- UTC -09:30
- UTC -09:00
- UTC -08:00
- UTC -04:00
- UTC -03:00
- UTC +01:00
- UTC +03:00
- UTC +04:00
- UTC +05:00
- UTC +11:00
- UTC +12:00