Africa Time Zones - Current Time Across African Countries
Africa uses 6 standard time zones, from UTC-1 in Cabo Verde to UTC+4 in Mauritius and Seychelles. Most of the mainland is on one of four zones: GMT (UTC+0) in far West Africa, West Africa Time (UTC+1), Central Africa Time (UTC+2) and East Africa Time (UTC+3). Only Egypt currently uses daylight saving time, and Morocco changes its clocks during Ramadan.
The live clocks below use your browser's time zone database, so they include Egypt's summer time and Morocco's Ramadan change automatically. A full table of all 54 countries is further down the page.
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Time Zones of All 54 African Countries
Standard UTC offsets (without daylight saving). DR Congo is listed twice because it spans two zones.
| Country | Capital | Time zone | Standard offset | Daylight saving | IANA zone |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇩🇿 Algeria | Algiers | Central European Time (CET) | UTC+1 | No | Africa/Algiers |
| 🇦🇴 Angola | Luanda | West Africa Time (WAT) | UTC+1 | No | Africa/Luanda |
| 🇧🇯 Benin | Porto-Novo | West Africa Time (WAT) | UTC+1 | No | Africa/Porto-Novo |
| 🇧🇼 Botswana | Gaborone | Central Africa Time (CAT) | UTC+2 | No | Africa/Gaborone |
| 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso | Ouagadougou | Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) | UTC+0 | No | Africa/Ouagadougou |
| 🇧🇮 Burundi | Gitega | Central Africa Time (CAT) | UTC+2 | No | Africa/Bujumbura |
| 🇨🇻 Cabo Verde | Praia | Cape Verde Time (CVT) | UTC-1 | No | Atlantic/Cape_Verde |
| 🇨🇲 Cameroon | Yaoundé | West Africa Time (WAT) | UTC+1 | No | Africa/Douala |
| 🇨🇫 Central African Republic | Bangui | West Africa Time (WAT) | UTC+1 | No | Africa/Bangui |
| 🇹🇩 Chad | N'Djamena | West Africa Time (WAT) | UTC+1 | No | Africa/Ndjamena |
| 🇰🇲 Comoros | Moroni | East Africa Time (EAT) | UTC+3 | No | Indian/Comoro |
| 🇨🇮 Côte d'Ivoire | Yamoussoukro | Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) | UTC+0 | No | Africa/Abidjan |
| 🇩🇯 Djibouti | Djibouti City | East Africa Time (EAT) | UTC+3 | No | Africa/Djibouti |
| 🇨🇩 DR Congo (East) | Lubumbashi | Central Africa Time (CAT) | UTC+2 | No | Africa/Lubumbashi |
| 🇨🇩 DR Congo (West) | Kinshasa | West Africa Time (WAT) | UTC+1 | No | Africa/Kinshasa |
| 🇪🇬 Egypt | Cairo | Eastern European Time (EET) | UTC+2 | Yes: UTC+3 from late April to late October | Africa/Cairo |
| 🇬🇶 Equatorial Guinea | Malabo | West Africa Time (WAT) | UTC+1 | No | Africa/Malabo |
| 🇪🇷 Eritrea | Asmara | East Africa Time (EAT) | UTC+3 | No | Africa/Asmara |
| 🇸🇿 Eswatini | Mbabane | South Africa Standard Time (SAST) | UTC+2 | No | Africa/Mbabane |
| 🇪🇹 Ethiopia | Addis Ababa | East Africa Time (EAT) | UTC+3 | No | Africa/Addis_Ababa |
| 🇬🇦 Gabon | Libreville | West Africa Time (WAT) | UTC+1 | No | Africa/Libreville |
| 🇬🇲 Gambia | Banjul | Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) | UTC+0 | No | Africa/Banjul |
| 🇬🇭 Ghana | Accra | Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) | UTC+0 | No | Africa/Accra |
| 🇬🇳 Guinea | Conakry | Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) | UTC+0 | No | Africa/Conakry |
| 🇬🇼 Guinea-Bissau | Bissau | Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) | UTC+0 | No | Africa/Bissau |
| 🇰🇪 Kenya | Nairobi | East Africa Time (EAT) | UTC+3 | No | Africa/Nairobi |
| 🇱🇸 Lesotho | Maseru | South Africa Standard Time (SAST) | UTC+2 | No | Africa/Maseru |
| 🇱🇷 Liberia | Monrovia | Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) | UTC+0 | No | Africa/Monrovia |
| 🇱🇾 Libya | Tripoli | Eastern European Time (EET) | UTC+2 | No | Africa/Tripoli |
| 🇲🇬 Madagascar | Antananarivo | East Africa Time (EAT) | UTC+3 | No | Indian/Antananarivo |
| 🇲🇼 Malawi | Lilongwe | Central Africa Time (CAT) | UTC+2 | No | Africa/Blantyre |
| 🇲🇱 Mali | Bamako | Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) | UTC+0 | No | Africa/Bamako |
| 🇲🇷 Mauritania | Nouakchott | Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) | UTC+0 | No | Africa/Nouakchott |
| 🇲🇺 Mauritius | Port Louis | Mauritius Time (MUT) | UTC+4 | No | Indian/Mauritius |
| 🇲🇦 Morocco | Rabat | Morocco Time (UTC+1) | UTC+1 | Switches to UTC+0 during Ramadan | Africa/Casablanca |
| 🇲🇿 Mozambique | Maputo | Central Africa Time (CAT) | UTC+2 | No | Africa/Maputo |
| 🇳🇦 Namibia | Windhoek | Central Africa Time (CAT) | UTC+2 | No | Africa/Windhoek |
| 🇳🇪 Niger | Niamey | West Africa Time (WAT) | UTC+1 | No | Africa/Niamey |
| 🇳🇬 Nigeria | Abuja | West Africa Time (WAT) | UTC+1 | No | Africa/Lagos |
| 🇨🇬 Republic of the Congo | Brazzaville | West Africa Time (WAT) | UTC+1 | No | Africa/Brazzaville |
| 🇷🇼 Rwanda | Kigali | Central Africa Time (CAT) | UTC+2 | No | Africa/Kigali |
| 🇸🇹 São Tomé and Príncipe | São Tomé | Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) | UTC+0 | No | Africa/Sao_Tome |
| 🇸🇳 Senegal | Dakar | Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) | UTC+0 | No | Africa/Dakar |
| 🇸🇨 Seychelles | Victoria | Seychelles Time (SCT) | UTC+4 | No | Indian/Mahe |
| 🇸🇱 Sierra Leone | Freetown | Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) | UTC+0 | No | Africa/Freetown |
| 🇸🇴 Somalia | Mogadishu | East Africa Time (EAT) | UTC+3 | No | Africa/Mogadishu |
| 🇿🇦 South Africa | Pretoria | South Africa Standard Time (SAST) | UTC+2 | No | Africa/Johannesburg |
| 🇸🇸 South Sudan | Juba | Central Africa Time (CAT) | UTC+2 | No | Africa/Juba |
| 🇸🇩 Sudan | Khartoum | Central Africa Time (CAT) | UTC+2 | No | Africa/Khartoum |
| 🇹🇿 Tanzania | Dodoma | East Africa Time (EAT) | UTC+3 | No | Africa/Dar_es_Salaam |
| 🇹🇬 Togo | Lomé | Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) | UTC+0 | No | Africa/Lome |
| 🇹🇳 Tunisia | Tunis | Central European Time (CET) | UTC+1 | No | Africa/Tunis |
| 🇺🇬 Uganda | Kampala | East Africa Time (EAT) | UTC+3 | No | Africa/Kampala |
| 🇿🇲 Zambia | Lusaka | Central Africa Time (CAT) | UTC+2 | No | Africa/Lusaka |
| 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | Harare | Central Africa Time (CAT) | UTC+2 | No | Africa/Harare |
Understanding African Time Zones
Countries by Time Zone
- UTC-1 (Cape Verde Time): Cabo Verde
- UTC+0 (GMT): Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo
- UTC+1 (West Africa Time and CET): Algeria, Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, DR Congo (west, including Kinshasa), Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Morocco (except during Ramadan), Niger, Nigeria, Tunisia
- UTC+2 (Central Africa Time, SAST and EET): Botswana, Burundi, DR Congo (east, including Lubumbashi), Egypt (UTC+3 in summer), Eswatini, Lesotho, Libya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Zambia, Zimbabwe
- UTC+3 (East Africa Time): Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda
- UTC+4: Mauritius, Seychelles
Non-sovereign territories follow their own rules: Western Sahara follows Morocco's time in the Moroccan-administered area, the Canary Islands (Spain) use UTC+0 with European summer time, and Réunion (France) uses UTC+4, while Mayotte uses UTC+3.
Daylight Saving Time in Africa
Almost no African country changes its clocks. The exceptions:
- Egypt: Reinstated daylight saving time in 2023. Clocks move from UTC+2 to UTC+3 on the last Friday of April and back on the last Thursday of October.
- Morocco: Has used UTC+1 all year since 2018, but switches back to UTC+0 for the month of Ramadan. Because Ramadan follows the lunar calendar, the dates move about 11 days earlier each year.
Recent Time Zone Changes
- South Sudan moved from UTC+3 to UTC+2 on 1 February 2021, matching Sudan.
- Sudan moved from UTC+3 to UTC+2 in November 2017.
- Namibia dropped its winter time (UTC+1) in 2017 and now uses UTC+2 all year.
- São Tomé and Príncipe switched to UTC+1 in 2018 and returned to UTC+0 at the start of 2019.
Countries with More Than One Time Zone
DR Congo is the only African country that spans two time zones on the mainland: UTC+1 in the west (Kinshasa) and UTC+2 in the east (Lubumbashi, Goma). Large countries such as Algeria, Sudan and Chad use a single zone despite their size.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many time zones does Africa have?
Africa has 6 standard time zones, from UTC-1 in Cabo Verde to UTC+4 in Mauritius and Seychelles. Most mainland countries use UTC+0, UTC+1, UTC+2 or UTC+3.
What time zone is Nigeria in?
Nigeria uses West Africa Time (WAT), which is UTC+1 all year. Nigeria does not use daylight saving time.
What time zone is South Africa in?
South Africa uses South Africa Standard Time (SAST), UTC+2, all year. Lesotho and Eswatini use the same time.
Does Egypt use daylight saving time?
Yes. Egypt reinstated daylight saving time in 2023, moving from UTC+2 to UTC+3 from the last Friday of April to the last Thursday of October.
What time zone is Kenya in?
Kenya uses East Africa Time (EAT), UTC+3, all year, like Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia and Somalia.
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