Do the world time zone maps confuse you? Totally understandable! It’s a vast world we live in, and with so many time zones, it can be difficult to keep them all straight. With this in mind, and to help you out, we’ve summarized the time zone differences per continent here!
Sorting Out the World Time Zone Maps
1. Asia
Being the largest continent on the planet, it’s no surprise that Asia has the most time zones. Asia has a total of 17 different offsets, with Universal Coordinated Time +8 as the most followed. UTC +8 is followed by 12 countries, including Brunei, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines. Most countries in Asia do not observe daylight savings time. However, those that do include Iran, Israel, and Lebanon.
2. Africa
Africa follows only six time zones, a big difference from Asia’s vast time mapping. Mauritius, Seychelles, and Reunion share the same time zones following the UTC +4 offset. Just like Asia, most of Africa does not follow daylight savings time. Some countries in the continent used to follow DST but have stopped years ago. Now, only Morocco and parts of Western Sahara controlled by Morocco follow DST.
3. Australia and Oceania
Australia also follows a lot of time zones, mainly because they follow daylight savings time in most areas. Australian Eastern daylight time, Lord Howe daylight time, and Norfolk time all follow the UTC +11 offset. Daylight savings time is followed by the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, Lord Howe Island, and Jervis Bay Territory. Additionally, New Zealand in Oceania follows daylight savings time.
4. North America
The North American time zone can be very confusing if you’re not from there. They follow a lot of different time zones as well. Additionally, most of the states follow daylight savings time. However, to add to the confusion, though most states follow DST, they don’t all follow it on the same date. The most common offset in North America is UTC -3 and UTC -6.
5. South America
Fortunately, South America definitely has a less confusing time zone than North America. South America only follows four different offsets, with UTC -3 as the most common. While most of South America does not follow daylight savings time, three countries do. These three countries are Paraguay, Brazil, and Chile.
6. Europe
Similar in number to South America, Europe follows only five offsets. UTC +3 is the commonly observed offset which is followed by the Eastern European summer, Further-Eastern European, Moscow Standard, and Turkey time zones. Most of Europe follows daylight savings time. Among those that stopped practicing DST are Belarus, Georgia, and Iceland.
7. Antarctica
Antartica can also be confusing when it comes to time zones. After all, following 14 different time zones and 12 offsets can’t be easy to understand.
For more trivia on the strangest time zones of the world, check out this video from WonderWhy:
While time zones may be confusing, don’t let them deter you from traveling! Just read some tips on how to minimize jet lag and be aware of the world time zone maps wherever you go!
What time zone does your city follow? Let us know in the comments!
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