October 27, 2025, 10:33 am | Read time: 3 minutes
There has been much debate about daylight saving time in recent years. Although the EU agreed back in 2018 to abolish it, there was disagreement over whether to keep summer or winter time. As a result, nothing has happened yet, and no binding decisions are in sight.
EU-wide daylight saving time has only existed for 25 years
We have been changing the clocks here since 1916. At that time, Germany and Austria-Hungary were the first countries to use daylight saving time. It wasn’t until 1996 that all EU countries began adjusting their clocks for summer and winter time, as is currently the case. The EU standardized daylight saving time then. The timing for moving the clocks forward or back has been the same since: the last Sunday in March and October.
Some non-EU countries have also adopted the regulation. Clocks are adjusted in Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Morocco, Macedonia, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Norway, San Marino, Switzerland, Serbia, Ukraine, and Vatican City.
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These countries do not adjust their clocks
Some European countries have already decided to forgo daylight saving time. In Iceland, for example, the clocks are not changed. Because the country is so far north and already has up to 21 hours of daylight in summer, they don’t want to artificially extend the days by another hour. Russia also no longer adjusts its clocks. Since October 2014, the country has permanently observed “winter time,” the actual standard time. In November 2022, the Greenlandic government decided to abolish daylight saving time on the island. Since then, Greenland has permanently observed “summer time.” In Ukraine, it was decided in 2024 to stop changing the clocks–the country plans to observe “winter time” year-round. However, President Zelenskyy has not yet signed the law passed by parliament, as reported by “Merkur” and others.
Particularly confusing: Although the U.S. and Canada also change their clocks every six months, it happens on different days than in Europe. This is also true for other countries on the Northern Hemisphere, such as Iran, Israel, Cuba, Mexico, the Bahamas, and Bermuda. They adjust their clocks, but not on the last Sunday in March and October.
Daylight saving time in the Southern Hemisphere
In some countries south of the equator, the system works in reverse. In parts of Australia and Chile, New Zealand, Namibia, Paraguay, and Uruguay, daylight saving time occurs around the same time as in Europe, but they switch to summer time between late September and early October.
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And what about countries in between? Countries near the equator have similar day lengths year-round. Daylight saving time is not practical for them. For example, Indonesia, India, Bolivia, Costa Rica, and the Maldives do not switch between summer and winter time.