The short answer
In spring the clocks go forward one hour, in autumn they go back one hour. Each region decides when. The rules below are the ones in force in 2026; the dates in brackets are the 2026 changes.
The world clock below follows these rules automatically, because it uses the time zone database built into your browser. Add the cities you call or work with, and each card shows the current offset and how many hours it is ahead of or behind you.
| Region | Clocks go forward | Clocks go back |
|---|---|---|
| European Union, UK, Norway, Switzerland | Last Sunday of March, 01:00 UTC (29 March) | Last Sunday of October, 01:00 UTC (25 October) |
| United States, most of Canada | Second Sunday of March, 02:00 local (8 March) | First Sunday of November, 02:00 local (1 November) |
| South eastern Australia (NSW, Victoria, ACT, Tasmania, South Australia) | First Sunday of October (4 October) | First Sunday of April (5 April) |
| New Zealand | Last Sunday of September (27 September) | First Sunday of April (5 April) |
Try it here: World Clock
Open the full tool pageEurope: one moment for the whole continent
All EU countries, the UK and their neighbours that follow the same rule change at the same instant, 01:00 UTC. That is 01:00 in London and Lisbon, 02:00 in Paris and Berlin, and 03:00 in Athens and Helsinki. Because everyone moves together, the differences inside Europe never change: Berlin is always one hour ahead of London.
The EU has discussed ending the twice a year change since 2018, but no date has been agreed, so the rule above still applies. Turkey, Russia and Belarus do not change their clocks at all, which means their difference to Western Europe is one hour smaller in summer than in winter. Istanbul, for example, is three hours ahead of London in winter and two in summer.
North America: earlier in spring, later in autumn
The United States and most of Canada switch three weeks before Europe in March and one week after Europe in autumn. The change happens at 02:00 local time in each zone, so New York changes three hours before Los Angeles.
There are exceptions. Hawaii and most of Arizona stay on standard time all year, as do Puerto Rico and Saskatchewan. Mexico ended daylight saving time in 2022, apart from some cities along the US border that keep the US dates for practical reasons. If you schedule anything with Phoenix, remember that it matches Los Angeles in summer and Denver in winter.
The few weeks when everything shifts
Because the US changes earlier in spring and later in autumn than Europe, the usual gap is one hour smaller for a while. New York is normally five hours behind London, but in 2026 it is only four hours behind from 8 March to 29 March and from 25 October to 1 November. A weekly call fixed at 15:00 in London moves from 10:00 to 11:00 in New York for those weeks, and calendar invitations created in one time zone will appear an hour off for colleagues in the other.
The southern hemisphere adds a second shift. Sydney moves its clocks in April and October, opposite to London, so the difference between the two cities is 11 hours in the northern winter, 9 hours in the northern summer, and 10 hours in the weeks in between. Countries near the equator, such as Singapore, India or Kenya, do not change, so only the European or American side moves.
- Check meeting times again in the weeks of March, April, October and November.
- Send invitations from a calendar that stores the time zone, not as plain text.
- When in doubt, write the time in UTC as well, which never changes.
Countries that do not change
Most of the world keeps the same time all year. That includes China, Japan, South Korea, India, Indonesia, most of Africa, the Gulf states, Russia, Turkey, Brazil, Argentina and most of South East Asia. Brazil stopped changing its clocks in 2019 and Iran in 2022. In the southern half of South America, Chile still uses daylight saving time on dates its government sets each year.
A few countries have special rules. Morocco uses UTC+1 for most of the year and moves back to UTC+0 during Ramadan. Egypt brought daylight saving time back in 2023 after several years without it. Rules like these change more often than people expect, which is why a world clock that relies on an up to date time zone database is more reliable than a table you copied years ago.
How your devices know
Phones, computers and browsers use the IANA time zone database, which records the rules of every region, including historical changes. When a government changes its rules, the database is updated and the update reaches your device with a normal system or browser update. That is also why time zones are named after cities, such as America/New_York or Europe/Paris, rather than by offsets: an offset like UTC+1 says nothing about when summer time starts.
If a device shows the wrong time after a change, check that automatic time and automatic time zone are switched on, and that the system is up to date.