UTC+03:00 is an identifier for a
time offset from UTC of +03:00. In areas using this time offset, the time is three hours ahead of the
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
Following the
ISO 8601
ISO 8601 is an international standard covering the worldwide exchange and communication of date and time-related data. It is maintained by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and was first published in 1988, with updates in ...
standard, a time with this offset would be written as, for example, 2019-02-08T23:36:06+03:00.
As standard time (year-round)
Principal cities:
Istanbul
Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
,
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
,
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
,
Doha
Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...
,
Riyadh
Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the Riyadh Governorate. Located on the eastern bank of Wadi Hanifa, the current form of the metropolis largely emerged in th ...
,
Baghdad
Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...
,
Nairobi
Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...
,
Dire Dawa
Dire Dawa (; , meaning"where the Dir (clan), Dir hit his spear into the ground" or "The true Dir", , Harari language, Harari: ድሬዳዋ, lit. "Plain of Medicine"; ) is a city in eastern Ethiopia near the Somali Region and Oromia, Oromo borde ...
,
Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...
,
Manama
Manama ( ', Bahrani Arabic, Bahrani pronunciation: ) is the capital and List of cities in Bahrain, largest city of Bahrain, with an approximate population of 297,502 as of 2012. Long an important trading center in the Persian Gulf, Manama is ...
,
Sanaa,
Aden
Aden () is a port city located in Yemen in the southern part of the Arabian peninsula, on the north coast of the Gulf of Aden, positioned near the eastern approach to the Red Sea. It is situated approximately 170 km (110 mi) east of ...
,
Minsk
Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...
,
Kuwait City
Kuwait City (; ) is the capital and largest city of Kuwait. Located at the heart of the country on the south shore of Kuwait Bay on the Persian Gulf, it is the political, cultural and economic center of the emirate, containing Kuwait's Seif Pal ...
,
Asmara,
Antananarivo
Antananarivo (Malagasy language, Malagasy: ; French language, French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known ...
,
Kampala
Kampala (, ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,875,834 (2024) and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kampala, Kawempe Division, Kawempe, Makindy ...
,
Amman
Amman ( , ; , ) is the capital and the largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of four million as of 2021, Amman is Jordan's primate city and is the largest city in the Levant ...
,
Damascus
Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...
Africa
East Africa
*Comoros
*Djibouti
*Eritrea
*Ethiopia
*France
**
French Southern and Antarctic Lands
***
Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean
****
Bassas da India,
Europa Island and
Juan de Nova Island
**
Mayotte
Mayotte ( ; , ; , ; , ), officially the Department of Mayotte (), is an Overseas France, overseas Overseas departments and regions of France, department and region and single territorial collectivity of France. It is one of the Overseas departm ...
*Kenya
*Madagascar
*Somalia
*Somaliland
*South Africa
**
Prince Edward Islands
*Tanzania
*Uganda
Antarctica
*Some bases in
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...
. See also
Time in Antarctica.
**Japan
***
Showa Station
Asia
Arabia Standard Time
Arabia Standard Time, or AST (indicated by ''KSA'' on some Arabic TV stations), is used by some of the countries in the
Middle East
The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq.
The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
. As this time zone is predominantly in the equatorial region, there is no significant change in day length throughout the year, so daylight saving time is not observed. Between 1982 and 2007, Iraq observed ''Arabia Daylight Time'' (UTC+04:00) but the government abolished DST in March 2008.
Arabia Standard Time is used by the following countries:
*Bahrain
*Iraq
*Jordan
*Kuwait
*Qatar
*Saudi Arabia
*Syria
*Yemen
Europe
Most of
European Russia
European Russia is the western and most populated part of the Russia, Russian Federation. It is geographically situated in Europe, as opposed to the country's sparsely populated and vastly larger eastern part, Siberia, which is situated in Asia ...
, including
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
,
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
,
Rostov-on-Don,
Novaya Zemlya,
Franz Josef Land. From October 26, 2014 Moscow and most other parts of European Russia started using UTC+03:00 again, year-round. Also on September 7, 2016, Turkey started using UTC+03:00 year-round. Besides the names mentioned above, the name "Eastern Europe Forward Time"' (EEFT) is sometimes used.
*Belarus
*Russia –
Moscow Time
**
Central Federal District
The Central Federal District ( rus, Центральный федеральный округ, p=tsɨnˈtralʲnɨj fʲɪdʲɪˈralʲnɨj ˈokrʊk) is one of the federal districts of Russia, eight federal districts of Russia. Geographically, the di ...
**
North Caucasian Federal District
**
Northwestern Federal District
***Except
Kaliningrad Oblast
Kaliningrad Oblast () is the westernmost federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of the Russian Federation. It is a Enclave and exclave, semi-exclave on the Baltic Sea within the Baltic region of Prussia (region), Prussia, surrounded by Pola ...
**
Southern Federal District
***Except
Astrakhan Oblast
**
Volga Federal District
***Except
Samara Oblast,
Saratov Oblast
Saratov Oblast is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in the Volga Federal District. Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Saratov. As of the 2021 Russian cens ...
,
Udmurtia
Udmurtia, officially the Udmurt Republic, is a republics of Russia, republic of Russia located in Eastern Europe. It is administratively part of the Volga Federal District. Its capital city, capital is the types of inhabited localities in Russi ...
,
Ulyanovsk Oblast,
Bashkortostan,
Orenburg Oblast and
Perm Krai
Perm Krai (, ; ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (a Krais of Russia, krai), located in Eastern Europe. Its administrative center is Perm, Russia, Perm. The population of the krai was 2,532,405 (2021 Russian census, 2021 ...
*Turkey –
Time in Turkey
*Ukraine
**
Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine -
Republic of Crimea,
Sevastopol,
Luhansk People's Republic
The Luhansk People's Republic (LPR; , ) is a disputed territory administered as a republic of Russia in the occupied parts of eastern Ukraine's Luhansk Oblast, with its capital in Luhansk. The LPR was proclaimed by Russian-backed paramilitar ...
, part of
Donetsk People's Republic, part of
Kherson Oblast
Kherson Oblast (, ; ), also known as Khersonshchyna (, ), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in southern Ukraine. It is located just north of Crimea. Its administrative center is Kherson, on the northern or right bank ...
and part of
Zaporizhzhia Oblast
Caucasus region
*Georgia (while Georgia remains within
UTC+04:00, its
two breakaway regions have opted to use UTC+03:00) this includes:
**
Abkhazia
**
South Ossetia
South Ossetia, officially the Republic of South Ossetia or the State of Alania, is a landlocked country in the South Caucasus with International recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, partial diplomatic recognition. It has an offici ...
As daylight saving time (Northern Hemisphere summer only)
Principal cities:
Kyiv
Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
,
Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...
,
Athens
Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
,
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
,
Sofia
Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...
,
Cairo
Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...
Europe
*Bulgaria
*Cyprus
*Estonia
*Finland
**
Åland
Åland ( , ; ) is an Federacy, autonomous and Demilitarized zone, demilitarised region of Finland. Receiving its autonomy by a 1920 decision of the League of Nations, it is the smallest region of Finland by both area () and population (30,54 ...
*Greece
*Latvia
*Lithuania
*Moldova
**
Transnistria
Transnistria, officially known as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic and locally as Pridnestrovie, is a Landlocked country, landlocked Transnistria conflict#International recognition of Transnistria, breakaway state internationally recogn ...
*Romania
*Ukraine
**
Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine
*United Kingdom
**
Akrotiri and Dhekelia
Akrotiri and Dhekelia (), officially the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (SBA), is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory made of two non-contiguous areas on the island of Geography of Cyprus, Cyprus. The area ...
Asia
*Israel
*Lebanon
Africa
*Egypt
Discrepancies between official UTC+03:00 and geographical UTC+03:00
Areas in UTC+03:00 longitudes using other time zones
Using
UTC+04:00:
*
Caucasus
The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...
region:
** Georgia, excluding Abkhazia and South Ossetia
** Armenia
** Azerbaijan
*Russia, with parts of its territories:
** Astrakhan, Samara, Saratov and Ulyanovsk (with an exception of the very east)
** Western half of Udmurtia
*United Arab Emirates
** The westernmost region of the
Emirate of Abu Dhabi
The Emirate of Abu Dhabi is one of seven Emirates of the United Arab Emirates, emirates that constitute the United Arab Emirates. It is the largest emirate, accounting for 87% of the nation's total land area or .
Abu Dhabi also has the second ...
*Seychelles
**
Aldabra Group
***
Cosmoledo Atoll
**
Farquhar Group
*
French Southern and Antarctic Lands
**
Crozet Islands
The Crozet Islands (; or, officially, ''Archipel Crozet'') are a sub-Antarctic archipelago of small islands in the southern Indian Ocean. They form one of the five administrative districts of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands.
History ...
Using
UTC+03:30:
*Iran
** The western part, including
Tehran
Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...
Using
UTC+02:00:
*Ukraine (standard time)
** The easternmost part, including
Luhansk
Luhansk (, ; , ), also known as Lugansk (, ; , ), is a city in the Donbas in eastern Ukraine. As of 2022, the population was estimated to be making Luhansk the Cities in Ukraine, 12th-largest city in Ukraine.
Luhansk served as the administra ...
(the territories under Ukrainian control)
*Sudan
** The very easternmost part in the country
*Mozambique
** Most of the northeast, including
Montepuez and
Nampula
Areas outside UTC+03:00 longitudes using UTC+03:00 time
Areas between 67°30′ E and 82°30′ E ("physical" UTC+05:00)
*Russia
** The very east of
Severny Island with 69°2' E as the easternmost point
Areas between 52°30' E and 67°30' E ("physical" UTC+04:00)
*Yemen
**
Socotra
Socotra, locally known as Saqatri, is a Yemeni island in the Indian Ocean. Situated between the Guardafui Channel and the Arabian Sea, it lies near major shipping routes. Socotra is the largest of the six islands in the Socotra archipelago as ...
, the largest island in the
Socotra Archipelago
** The very easternmost part of
Al-Mahrah
*Saudi Arabia
** The easternmost part of
Sharqiyah
*Russia
** Most of
Franz Josef Land,
Yuzhny Island, and most of
Severny Island (with an exception of the very east)
** Some parts of the Russian mainland (
Komi Republic
The Komi Republic (; ), sometimes simply referred to as Komi, is a republics of Russia, republic of Russia situated in the northeast of European Russia. Its capital city, capital is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Syktyvka ...
,
Nenets Autonomous Okrug, east of
Kirov Oblast
Kirov Oblast ( rus, Кировская область, p=ˈkʲirəfskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast) located in Eastern Europe. Its administrative center is the city of Kirov. As of the 2010 census, the population ...
and
Tatarstan
Tatarstan, officially the Republic of Tatarstan, sometimes also called Tataria, is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia located in Eastern Europe. It is a part of the Volga Federal District; and its capital city, capital and largest city i ...
)
Areas between 22°30' E and 37°30' E ("physical" UTC+02:00)
*Tanzania
** The western part, including
Mwanza and
Mbeya
*Uganda
*Kenya
** The western part, including nation's capital
Nairobi
Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...
*Ethiopia
** The western part, including
Nekemte and
Jimma
Jimma () is the largest city in southwestern Oromia Region, Ethiopia. It is a special zone of the Oromia Region and is surrounded by Jimma Zone. It has a latitude and longitude of . Prior to the 2007 census, Jimma was reorganized administrativ ...
*Saudi Arabia
** The northwesternmost part, including
Tabuk
*Turkey
** Most parts of the country, including
Istanbul
Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
and nation's capital
Ankara
Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...
*Ukraine
**
Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine
*Belarus
*Russia
** The western part, including
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
and half of Moscow
Notes
#The westernmost point at UTC+03:00 is the westernmost point of contiguous Russia, near
Lavry,
Pskov Oblast (27°19' E). The
time zone
A time zone is an area which observes a uniform standard time for legal, Commerce, commercial and social purposes. Time zones tend to follow the boundaries between Country, countries and their Administrative division, subdivisions instead of ...
employed there (corresponding to
45°E) is 17°41' E of physical time, i.e. roughly 1 hour and 11 minutes ahead of
physical time, making for the largest overall discrepancy between time used and physical time for UTC+03:00.
#The easternmost point at UTC+03:00 is
Cape Zhelaniya,
Severny Island,
Novaya Zemlya, Russia (69°06' E). The time zone employed there (corresponding to
45°E) is 24°06' W of physical time, i.e. roughly 1 hour and 36 minutes behind physical time, making for the largest discrepancy between time used and physical time for UTC+03:00.
#On February 8, 2011,
Russian president Dmitry Medvedev issued a decree cancelling
daylight saving time
Daylight saving time (DST), also referred to as daylight savings time, daylight time (Daylight saving time in the United States, United States and Daylight saving time in Canada, Canada), or summer time (British Summer Time, United Kingdom, ...
in Russia. Under the decree, all clocks in Russia advanced by 1 hour on March 27, 2011, but did not change back the following October, effectively making Kaliningrad Time UTC+03:00 permanently, and Moscow Time
UTC+04:00 permanently. This proved unpopular because of the dark mornings, children walking to school and people going to work in complete darkness. On October 26, 2014, Russia permanently returned to
standard time
Standard time is the synchronization of clocks within a geographical region to a single time standard, rather than a local mean time standard. Generally, standard time agrees with the local mean time at some meridian that passes through the r ...
by setting the clocks back by 1 hour effectively making Kaliningrad Time
UTC+02:00 permanently and Moscow Time UTC+03:00 permanently.
#Ukraine had UTC+02:00 plus regularly
EEST from 1990 till 2011 (in years 1981–1990 Moscow Summer Time) until the
Ukrainian parliament
The Verkhovna Rada ( ; VR), officially the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, is the unicameral parliament of Ukraine. It consists of 450 deputies presided over by a speaker. The Verkhovna Rada meets in the Verkhovna Rada building in Ukraine's capi ...
added 1 hour "on the territory of Ukraine from March 27, 2011" and canceled daylight saving time on September 20, 2011, ''de facto'' making EEST (UTC+03:00) the new standard time.
After strong criticism from the mass media, on 18 October 2011 the Ukrainian parliament cancelled its previous decision.
See also
*
Time in Ethiopia
*
Time in Russia
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Utc plus 03:00
UTC offsets