Time ZonesAbout this time zone
All of Sao Tome and Principe keeps one time. Computers and phones know it by the zone name Africa/Sao_Tome. Its time is UTC, which means it is the same as Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) all year round. The short name used for this time is GMT. Compared with India (IST), it is 5 hours 30 minutes behind India.
Clock changes in 2026 and 2027
Sao Tome and Principe does not change its clocks in 2026 or 2027. The time stays at UTC all year, so there is no daylight saving time to remember.
Time difference with major cities
| When it is 12:00 noon in Sao Tome and Principe, it is | In January 2026 | In July 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| India | 5:30 pm5 hours 30 minutes ahead | 5:30 pm5 hours 30 minutes ahead |
| United Kingdom | 12:00 pmsame time | 1:00 pm1 hour ahead |
| France | 1:00 pm1 hour ahead | 2:00 pm2 hours ahead |
| New York, United States | 7:00 am5 hours behind | 8:00 am4 hours behind |
| Chicago, United States | 6:00 am6 hours behind | 7:00 am5 hours behind |
| Los Angeles, United States | 4:00 am8 hours behind | 5:00 am7 hours behind |
| United Arab Emirates | 4:00 pm4 hours ahead | 4:00 pm4 hours ahead |
| Singapore | 8:00 pm8 hours ahead | 8:00 pm8 hours ahead |
| Japan | 9:00 pm9 hours ahead | 9:00 pm9 hours ahead |
| Sydney, Australia | 11:00 pm11 hours ahead | 10:00 pm10 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 Sao Tome and Principe
A time zone is an agreement, and the sun does not follow it exactly. São Tomé, the largest city in this zone, lies at about 6.7° east. Each degree of longitude is worth four minutes, so by the sun alone its time would be about 27 minutes ahead of UTC. The clock is set to UTC. The sun is therefore highest in the sky at about 11:33 am by the clock, not at 12:00. The clock runs a little behind the sun here, so mornings are light early and evenings darken sooner. Other places in the zone, to the east or west of São Tomé, 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
São Tomé is about 0.3° north of the equator. On the longest day of the year, around 21 June, the sun is up for about 12 hours 8 minutes. On the shortest, around 21 December, for about 12 hours 6 minutes. So close to the equator the day is almost the same length all year. Moving the clocks would gain nothing, and Sao Tome and Principe does not do it.
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 Sao Tome and Principe.
- With India, all year: 9:00 am to 12:30 pm here, which is 2:30 pm to 6:00 pm in India (3 hours 30 minutes shared).
- With London, in January: 9:00 am to 6:00 pm here, which is 9:00 am to 6:00 pm in London (9 hours shared). In July: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm here, which is 10:00 am to 6:00 pm in London (8 hours shared).
- With New York, in January: 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm here, which is 9:00 am to 1:00 pm in New York (4 hours shared). In July: 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm here, which is 9:00 am to 2:00 pm in New York (5 hours shared).
How many people keep this time
The GeoNames list has 1 place of 15,000 people or more in this zone area, São Tomé, with about 53,000 people. 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: São Tomé.
Places with exactly the same time
These zones show the same time as Sao Tome and Principe through the whole year: Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Accra, Ghana, Bamako, Mali, Banjul, Gambia, Bissau, Guinea-Bissau, Conakry, Guinea, Dakar, Senegal, Freetown, Sierra Leone, Lome, Togo, Monrovia, Liberia, Nouakchott, Mauritania, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Reykjavik, Iceland, St Helena, Saint Helena.
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.