The timezone WAT in Central Africa

Only 1 nationwide time zone

UTC	+1
Standard time:	West Africa Time (WAT)
Daylight saving time:	none

The Central African Republic has an east-west extension of 11.4 degrees of longitude. Given the country's location in Central Africa, this corresponds to about 1300 kilometers. With this still relatively small extension, the course of the sun is only slightly different at various positions in the country. The position of the sun in the west of the country differs from that in the east by only about 45 minutes. This means the sun rises and sets 45 minutes later in the west than in the east.


The West Africa Time also applies in the Congo, Cameroon, in parts of the Congo (Dem. Republic), in Nigeria, Gabon, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, Niger and in Benin.

No daylight saving time in the Central African Republic

Due to the sun's orbit around the equator, the days are longer in summer (June to September in the northern hemisphere). Countries that switch to daylight saving time in the summer months align the daylight phase with the human rhythm. Unused bright morning hours are thus shifted into the evening (more information on daylight saving time here).

Due to its proximity to the equator, the impact in the Central African Republic would not be particularly large. Bangui is located just 490 km from the equator. A day in midsummer would then not last from 05:35 to 18:00, but from 06:35 to 19:00. The effect would be quite noticeable in the evening, but the sun rising later in the morning falls at a time when many people are already awake. Thus, daylight saving time was never introduced in the Central African Republic.