Time Zones in Asia and the Pacific: A Regional Guide

Last updated October 2, 2026

Asia and the Pacific contain the earliest time zones in the world and some of the most unusual offsets. Most of the region does not use daylight saving time, so differences inside Asia are stable all year.

Large countries with one clock

• China uses UTC+8 nationwide (Shanghai), even though the country spans several geographic zones. The IANA database lists Ürümqi as UTC+6, reflecting the unofficial local time used in Xinjiang.
• India uses UTC+5:30 nationwide (New Delhi).
• Japan and South Korea both use UTC+9 (Tokyo, Seoul).

Common offsets across the region

Countries with several zones

Indonesia uses three zones: Western (UTC+7), Central (UTC+8, including Bali, see Makassar) and Eastern (UTC+9, see Jayapura). Russia's Asian part spans many more, from Yekaterinburg at UTC+5 to Kamchatka at UTC+12. Australia has three standard zones: Western (UTC+8), Central (UTC+9:30) and Eastern (UTC+10).

Daylight saving time in the region

Asia almost never changes its clocks. A few Middle Eastern places such as Israel and Lebanon still do. In Oceania, daylight saving time follows the southern summer:

• Australia: New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and South Australia change clocks. Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia do not (see Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth). Lord Howe Island is unusual because its daylight saving shift is only 30 minutes.
• New Zealand: clocks go forward in late September and back in early April (Auckland). The Chatham Islands use a 45-minute offset: see the page.

The far east of the date line

Kiribati spreads across three zones, up to UTC+14 on Kiritimati, the earliest time zone on Earth (Kiritimati). Samoa and Tonga lie just west of the International Date Line and are among the first places to see a new day.

Working between Asia and Europe

An afternoon in Singapore or Hong Kong falls in the morning in Europe, which is the usual window for calls between the two regions. Asia and the United States have almost no overlap in normal working hours, so teams often rely on early or late calls.

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