Which country has the most time zones?

Most people guess Russia or the United States. The answer is France, with 12, and only one of them is in France itself.

Time zones per country

Each dot is one time zone in use, placed by its offset from UTC (standard time)

Time zones used by France, the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, and Australia France uses 12 time zones, from UTC−10 to UTC+12, or 13 counting its Antarctic claim. The United States uses 11, from UTC−12 to UTC+12. Russia uses 11, from UTC+2 to UTC+12, all on one landmass. The United Kingdom and Australia each use 9.
France France's Antarctic claim (not usually counted) Other countries

Where France's time zones come from

Mainland France is orange; each marker shows a territory's UTC offset

World map of France's overseas territories and their time zones France's territories are spread across the Pacific, Atlantic, Caribbean, South America, the Indian Ocean, and Antarctica, which is why the country spans offsets from UTC−10 in French Polynesia to UTC+12 in Wallis and Futuna.

France's 12 time zones

Standard time; mainland France and Saint Pierre and Miquelon also shift an hour for summer time

  • UTC−10French Polynesia (Tahiti and most islands)
  • UTC−9:30Marquesas Islands (French Polynesia)
  • UTC−9Gambier Islands (French Polynesia)
  • UTC−8Clipperton Island
  • UTC−4Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Martin, Saint Barthélemy
  • UTC−3French Guiana, Saint Pierre and Miquelon
  • UTC+1Metropolitan France
  • UTC+3Mayotte, Scattered Islands
  • UTC+4Réunion, Crozet Islands
  • UTC+5Kerguelen, Saint-Paul and Amsterdam Islands
  • UTC+11New Caledonia
  • UTC+12Wallis and Futuna
  • UTC+10Adélie Land, Antarctica (claim; would make 13)

France has the most time zones because it's scattered, not because it's big. Mainland France runs on a single zone. The other 11 come from overseas departments and territories spread across every ocean, while Russia, by far the largest country, has 11.

A count of time zones measures how spread out a country is, and what its government chose. China is wide enough for about five zones and officially uses one. Rankings built on counts can reward being scattered as easily as being big.

When a ranking says “most,” is it measuring size or spread?

Scattered, not big

Mainland France runs on a single time zone. The other 11 come from overseas departments and territories left over from its colonial empire, including islands in the Pacific, the Caribbean, the North Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean, plus French Guiana on the South American mainland. France comes out on top because its land is spread across every ocean, not because it's big.

Size is a poor predictor. Russia is by far the world's largest country, and its 11 time zones, from Kaliningrad (UTC+2) to Kamchatka (UTC+12), are the most for any country on a single landmass. The United States also reaches 11, but only by counting territories out to American Samoa, Guam, and uninhabited Baker and Howland Islands (UTC−12). China shows how political the count really is: it's wide enough to span about five time zones, yet the whole country officially runs on one, UTC+8.

The answer also depends on what you count. France's figure is 12 for inhabited and administered territory, or 13 if you include Adélie Land, its claim in Antarctica. And a country "has" a time zone here only if some part of it keeps that offset, which is a political choice, not a geographic fact.

What about the opposite: a huge country on one clock?

China spans about four hours of sun time and uses one time zone. It is about as wide as the contiguous United States, which uses four, but since 1949 the whole country has run on Beijing time. In Kashgar, in the far west, that puts the winter sunrise after 10 a.m. A country’s clocks can follow the sun or follow the capital; that’s a political choice, not a fact of geography.

Kashgar, in China's far west, on Beijing time

Winter sunrise
About 10:10 a.m.
on the shortest day of the year
Midday sun
About 2:55 p.m.
when the sun is highest, all year round
Summer sunset
About 10:25 p.m.
on the longest day of the year

How wide each country is in sun time, and how many clock time zones it uses

Mainland territory only. Every 15° of longitude moves the sun one hour.

Paired bars for five countries. China spans about 4.1 hours of sun time but uses 1 time zone. India spans about 2.0 hours and uses 1. The contiguous United States spans about 3.9 hours and uses 4. Mainland Australia spans about 2.7 hours and uses 3. Russia spans about 11.4 hours and uses 11. China 4.1 hours of sun time 1 clock time zone India 2.0 hours of sun time 1 clock time zone Contiguous U.S. 3.9 hours of sun time 4 clock time zones Mainland Australia 2.7 hours of sun time 3 clock time zones Russia 11.4 hours of sun time 11 clock time zones
Hours between sunrise at the east edge and the west edge Clock time zones actually used
Country (mainland)West to eastSun-time spreadClock time zones
China73.5°E to 134.8°E4.1 hours1 (UTC+8)
India68.1°E to 97.4°E2.0 hours1 (UTC+5:30)
Contiguous U.S.124.7°W to 66.9°W3.9 hours4
Mainland Australia113.2°E to 153.6°E2.7 hours3
Russia19.6°E to 169.1°W11.4 hours11

Kashgar's sun times are calculated for 39.5°N, 76.0°E on Beijing time (UTC+8), which China keeps all year. Many people in Xinjiang also use an unofficial local time two hours behind Beijing, so the same meeting can be set on two different clocks.

Related exhibits

Sources: Wikipedia, "Time in France" (offsets and territories for all 12 time zones, 13 including Adélie Land); timeanddate.com, "Which Country Has the Most Time Zones?" (France 12; Russia and the United States 11; the United Kingdom and Australia 9); Guinness World Records, "Country with the most time zones." Map from Natural Earth 1:50m country boundaries; small islands are shown with markers because they're too small to see at world scale. China and Kashgar: Sunrise, solar noon and sunset for Kashgar calculated with the NOAA solar position equations; country extremes from standard geographic coordinates; time zones from the IANA time zone database.