Countries with multiple time zones explained

One time zone per country sounds tidy, yet for the very largest states it is simply wrong. Some stretch across half a dozen zones or more, while others deliberately pick a single one even though the geography suggests otherwise. Knowing how wide a country is still leaves you guessing at the number of time zones. Area and time zones are linked, but far less tightly than it first seems.

Russia and its eleven zones

Russia runs across eleven time zones, from Kaliningrad in the west to Kamchatka in the far east. When morning breaks in the capital, it is already late evening on the country's Pacific edge. No other state spreads a single connected territory over so many zones.

Travelling right across the country means resetting your watch again and again without ever crossing a border. That is what makes raw area so deceptive in the mind: eleven zones are hard to picture when you normally get by on one or two.

France tops the list

The surprise is that Russia does not hold the most time zones, France does. The mainland itself sits in a single zone, but the overseas territories are scattered around the globe, from French Polynesia in the Pacific to islands in the Indian Ocean. Together France reaches twelve time zones, more than any other country. The United States follows with six zones across its states, plus more across its outlying territories, and Canada also counts six.

That a European country of fairly modest size should lead the field surprises many people. The reason is purely the islands and territories overseas, reaching from one edge of the Pacific to the Indian Ocean. On a map of the mainland alone you would never guess it.

Half hours and quarter hours

Not every zone jumps by a full hour. A few countries tick on an offset:

• India: a single time for the whole country, but shifted by half an hour, at UTC plus 5:30.
• Nepal: stranger still, offset by 45 minutes to UTC plus 5:45, which only a very few countries worldwide do.
• Canada: Newfoundland runs half an hour off the rest, at UTC minus 3:30.
• Australia: three main zones, with the central one sitting half an hour offset.

China does the opposite

China stretches across roughly five time zones geographically, yet the whole country uses only one, Beijing time at UTC plus 8. It is the largest state that officially gets by on a single clock. Until 1949 it ran several zones, after which everything was unified. For everyday life that is convenient, since every clock in the country shows the same time.

The cost shows up in the far west: there the sun rises very late by the clock, in some places not until around ten in the morning. India, too, keeps a single time despite a considerable east to west spread, which shows that a time zone is a political choice rather than a fixed law of nature.

Why it matters in a quiz

Time zones are a neat test of how big a country really is, but they also mislead. France looks compact and still tops the list, because its islands overseas count too. China looks enormous and yet manages on one clock, simply because that is how it was decided. Anyone who equates the number of zones with sheer area walks straight into that trap. The easiest way is to hold both extremes together: France as the quiet leader and China as the great counterexample.

In CountryRush you get to know such countries through outlines and flags, the vast area giants as much as the compact ones. The Daily Trip brings a fresh selection every day, so it is not always the usual suspects that turn up.