Phronesis
No. 042FactCountries ·Geography ·History

France has more time zones than any other country

Not Russia, not the United States: France. And mainland France itself runs an hour ahead of where its geography says it should, because of 1940.

2 min read
The constituent lands of the French Republic
Image: GodefroyCC BY-SA 3.0Wikimedia Commons

Ask which country has the most time zones and people usually guess Russia (11) or the United States. The answer is France, with 12, or 13 if you count its claim in Antarctica.

Why France?

Because of Overseas France: territories that are part of the French Republic or attached to it, spread across the globe.

  • the Caribbean: Guadeloupe, Martinique
  • South America: French Guiana
  • the Indian Ocean: Réunion, Mayotte
  • the Pacific: New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna
  • the North Atlantic: Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon

Each uses a different time zone from Paris. When it’s noon in Paris it is already late evening in Nouméa.

Mainland France runs early

Look at a map: most of metropolitan France lies at about the same longitude as Britain. Geographically, it belongs in GMT. But France uses Central European Time, one hour ahead.

The reason is 1940. German authorities switched occupied France to German time, and after liberation France never switched back. So French winters effectively run on permanent “daylight saving time”, which helps explain the late sunrises and long summer evenings in western France.

Bring it up

“France has more time zones than Russia: twelve, or thirteen if you count Antarctica.”

Follow the thread

  1. In contrastChina spans five time zones but uses one France has the most time zones; China, nearly as wide as the US, has just one.
  2. RelatedKiribati moved the International Date Line Another country where time zones are shaped by politics and scattered islands.
  3. RelatedThree meals a day is a fairly modern habit Clock time is a social convention, like meal times.

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