July 30, 2025, 8:30 am | Read time: 2 minutes
Anyone traveling by air to destinations such as the U.S. or Asia must adjust their clock—backward when heading west, forward when going east. This is because there are 24 different time zones on Earth. But which countries have the most time zones worldwide? The answer is surprising.
The mainland U.S., excluding Alaska, has four time zones: from Eastern Standard Time Zone (five hours behind Central European Time, CET) to Pacific Standard Time Zone (eight hours behind). This isn’t surprising given the country’s size. But which nation has the most time zones?
The surprising answer is the relatively small France. The country has a total of twelve time zones. While the European continental part of France is entirely in the CET zone, like the rest of Central Europe, the large number is due to France’s overseas territories, which are also part of the country’s domain. These include places such as Guadeloupe in the Caribbean, La Réunion in the Indian Ocean, and French Polynesia in the Pacific, as explained by the website Timeanddate.de.
The second place is shared by the U.S. and Russia, each with eleven different time zones. For the United States, the high number is also due to some very small overseas territories. In Russia, it’s due to the country’s vast east-west expanse.
Countries With the Most Time Zones
1. France: 12
2. U.S.: 11
2. Russia: 11
4. United Kingdom: 9
5. Australia: 8
6. Canada: 6
7. Denmark: 5
8. Brazil: 4
8. Mexico: 4
9. New Zealand: 3
9. Indonesia: 3
9. Kiribati: 3
How Many Time Zones Does China Have?
The world’s fourth-largest country spans about 5,200 kilometers from east to west, yet “Beijing Time” applies everywhere. Officially, it’s called China Standard Time (CST). Provinces like Xinjiang, located thousands of kilometers from the capital in the west, must also adhere to “Beijing Time.”