These Countries Have a Surprising Number of Time Zones

Published: April 29, 2024 by Liam Frady

What countries have a surprising number of time zones? I’ll admit I often don’t think of the time zones of a given country when reading about world news. However, today’s list takes a look at countries that have far more time zones than you might expect.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

The DRC is a fairly large country in Africa. It starts off our list with 2 time zones, which is honestly surprising.

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Kiribati

Kiribati is part of the region known as Oceania. You’ll also find countries like Australia and New Zealand lumped into the region. With 3 time zones, the small country has a surprising number of time zones.

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Chile

Chile is a larger country in South America and has 3 time zones. This gives it a surprising number of time zones, especially considering how many are part of the mainland.

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Indonesia

Indonesia is one of the largest countries in Southeast Asia. With 3 time zones to account for, it has the most in the region.

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Mexico

North America has three massive countries on the continent. Mexico has a surprising number of time zones, coming in only at 4. That does account for everything within the country’s borders, however.

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Brazil

Brazil is the largest country in all of South America and has a surprising number of time zones to back that up. It has a total of 4, which includes the islands off the Brazillian coast.

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New Zealand

New Zealand is similar to its neighbor in Oceania, Australia. While the country only has 5 time zones, that is still quite a surprising number of time zones considering the size of the islands.

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Denmark

Denmark also includes places like Greenland, which is considered a Danish holding despite being autonomous.

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Canada

Canada is a big place, and with a surprising 6 time zones it has more than earned a place on this list.

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The United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is the least shocking entry for any country with a surprising number of time zones. At 9 in total, I’m honestly more surprised it doesn’t have more time zones across the globe to account for.

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Australia

Australia comes in at 9 time zones, which includes the islands surrounding the main continent. This ties it up with the United Kingdom, which has holdings around much of the world still.

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The United States of America

*Americans can account for 11 time zones in total.*
©shutterupeire/Shutterstock.com

The United States is tied up with Russia at 11. It does have a surprising number of time zones. This does account for more than just the contiguous United States, Hawaii, and Alaska, however.

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Russia

Russia probably isn’t a shock, despite having a surprising number of time zones. All of Russia’s account for the sheer size of the country, with all recorded timezones corresponding to places within Russia’s borders.

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France

France has a total of 13, rounding out the list of countries with a surprising number of time zones. This encompasses various territories held by France, with places like the Crozet Islands, Saint Paul, and New Caledonia beyond just the mainland.

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