Time ZonesAbout this time zone
All of Western Sahara keeps one time. Computers and phones know it by the zone name Africa/El_Aaiun. Its time is UTC+1 in January and UTC+1 in July, because the clocks are changed during the year. Compared with India (IST), it is 4 hours 30 minutes behind India.
Clock changes in 2026 and 2027
Western Sahara changes its clocks during the year. These are the changes for 2026 and 2027, worked out from the rules in the IANA time zone database.
| Clock change (local time) | New offset |
|---|---|
| Sunday 15 February 2026: at 3:00 am clocks go back 1 hour to 2:00 am | UTC |
| Sunday 22 March 2026: at 2:00 am clocks go forward 1 hour to 3:00 am | UTC+1 |
| Sunday 20 September 2026: at 2:00 am clocks go back 1 hour to 1:00 am | UTC |
No further change is listed after that, up to the end of 2027: the clocks stay at UTC.
Governments sometimes change these rules at short notice. Check an official source before fixing travel or meetings far ahead.
Counting from those dates, the clocks in Western Sahara stay forward for 181 days, from 22 March 2026 to 20 September 2026. That is about 26 weeks, or 50% of a year, on UTC+1 and the rest on UTC.
Time difference with major cities
| When it is 12:00 noon in Western Sahara, it is | In January 2026 | In July 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| India | 4:30 pm4 hours 30 minutes ahead | 4:30 pm4 hours 30 minutes ahead |
| United Kingdom | 11:00 am1 hour behind | 12:00 pmsame time |
| France | 12:00 pmsame time | 1:00 pm1 hour ahead |
| New York, United States | 6:00 am6 hours behind | 7:00 am5 hours behind |
| Chicago, United States | 5:00 am7 hours behind | 6:00 am6 hours behind |
| Los Angeles, United States | 3:00 am9 hours behind | 4:00 am8 hours behind |
| United Arab Emirates | 3:00 pm3 hours ahead | 3:00 pm3 hours ahead |
| Singapore | 7:00 pm7 hours ahead | 7:00 pm7 hours ahead |
| Japan | 8:00 pm8 hours ahead | 8:00 pm8 hours ahead |
| Sydney, Australia | 10:00 pm10 hours ahead | 9:00 pm9 hours ahead |
The table uses the offsets in force in mid January and mid July 2026. Use the converter for any other date.
Clock time and sun time in Western Sahara
A time zone is an agreement, and the sun does not follow it exactly. Laayoune, the largest city in this zone, lies at about 13.2° west. Each degree of longitude is worth four minutes, so by the sun alone its time would be about 53 minutes behind UTC. The clock is set to UTC+1. The sun is therefore highest in the sky at about 1:53 pm by the clock, not at 12:00. The clock runs more than an hour ahead of the sun here, one of the wider gaps in the world. Mornings stay dark late by the clock and evenings stay light. Other places in the zone, to the east or west of Laayoune, see the sun peak a little earlier or later. Through the year the figure also drifts by up to a quarter of an hour either way.
How long the day is
Laayoune is about 27.1° north of the equator. On the longest day of the year, around 21 June, the sun is up for about 13 hours 51 minutes. On the shortest, around 21 December, for about 10 hours 26 minutes. That swing of about 3 hours 25 minutes between summer and winter is the reason clocks are moved here: the extra summer daylight is shifted from the early morning to the evening.
Office hours shared with other places
If both sides work from 9 am to 6 pm, these are the hours when a call falls inside the working day at both ends. Times are for Western Sahara.
- With India, all year: 9:00 am to 1:30 pm here, which is 1:30 pm to 6:00 pm in India (4 hours 30 minutes shared).
- With London, in January: 10:00 am to 6:00 pm here, which is 9:00 am to 5:00 pm in London (8 hours shared). In July: 9:00 am to 6:00 pm here, which is 9:00 am to 6:00 pm in London (9 hours shared).
- With New York, in January: 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm here, which is 9:00 am to 12:00 pm in New York (3 hours shared). In July: 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm here, which is 9:00 am to 1:00 pm in New York (4 hours shared).
How many people keep this time
The GeoNames list has 4 towns and cities of 15,000 people or more in this zone area, with about 374,000 people between them. People in villages and smaller towns are not in that count, so the true number on this clock is higher.
Cities that keep this time
The largest cities in this zone: Laayoune, Dakhla, Boujdour, El Marsa.
Places with exactly the same time
These zones show the same time as Western Sahara through the whole year: Casablanca, Morocco.
The clock above uses your device's clock and the time zone rules built into your browser. Rules on this page: IANA time zone database 2026f. See About and data sources.