The world is divided by time: List of countries with most number of time zones (2024)

The world is divided into 24 time zones. The course of one day is broken down to the seconds and calculated to define the correct time of a particular place. However, it is not that easy. The 24 time zones, created in accordance to each hour of the day, are theoretically drawn vertically like longitudes over the globe. The Co-ordinated Universal Time (UTC) is used to regulate time and date around the world.

Here are some key points about the Co-ordinated Universal Time (UTC):

• It is a close variant of the Greenwich Mean Time or GMT at 0 degree longitude

• UTC is defined by the International Telecommunications Union Recommendation, the Standard-frequency and time-signal emissions and is based on the International Atomic Time (TAI)

• According to the UTC, leap seconds are added to days at regular intervals to compensate for Earth's slowing rotation

• Time zones are pointed using positive and negative offsets from the UTC with GMT as the median

• The easternmost time zone is twelve hours behind the UTC and uses UTC-12 as its time tag while the westernmost time zone uses UTC+12.
  

All the countries around the world have unique shapes and sizes. Some are so big that they have to use 11 time zones to cover the entire nation and some are happy with only one standard time. Besides, the size of a country is not the only factor behind having multiple time zones. Some countries have offshore colonies and territories that come under other time zones than its own.

Let's take a look at top five countries with most number of time zones:

1. France: France has 12 time zones ranging from UTC-10 to UTC+12. This unusual span is due to France's scattered national territories. The areas in French Polynesia in the Pacific Ocean are mainly responsible for this. France's time zones are UTC-10, UTC-9:30, UTC-9, UTC-4, UTC-3, UTC + 1, UTC + 3, UTC + 5, UTC + 11 and UTC + 12.

2. United States of America: The United States of America has 11 time zones to cover its huge span. The time zones range from UTC-12 to UTC+12. Two of these time zones (UTC-12 and UTC+12) are yet to become official for the country. However, the United States only has six time zones over the mainland. The US time zones are UTC?12:00, UTC-11, UTC-10, UTC-9, UTC-8, UTC-7, UTC-6, UTC-5, UTC-4, UTC+11 and UTC+12.

3. Russia: The only country in the world that has all its time zones over the mainland is Russia. Once the biggest country in the world, Russia has 11 time zones. Russia is the country to have most consecutive number of time zones. Russian time zones are UTC-2, UTC-3, UTC-4, UTC-5, UTC-6, UTC-7, UTC-8, UTC-9, UTC-10, UTC-11 and UTC-12.

4. United Kingdom: The mainland of the United Kingdom is not big at all. It is a small island to the northeast of the Atlantic Ocean. Due to their naval skills, the British had spread colonies all around the world. Thus, the country is still left with various time zones that are scattered across the planet. From the Pitcairn Islands in Pacific Ocean to the British Indian Ocean Territory, the Island colonisers have nine time zones to follow such as UTC-8, UTC-5, UTC-4, UTC-3, UTC-2, UTC (GMT), UTC+1, UTC=2 and UTC+6.

5. Australia: Australia is the world's sixth largest country and has eight time zones. The southern continent of Oceania is largely defined by Australia's land mass and the islands it takes under national territory. The Australian time zones are UTC+5, UTC+6:30, UTC+7, UTC+8, UTC+9:30, UTC+10, UTC+10:30 and UTC+11.

India has only one time zone, the Indian Standard Time (IST), which runs 5 hours and 30 mins behind UTC.