The timezone EAT in Madagascar

Only 1 nationwide time zone

Standard time:	UTC +3	East Africa Time (EAT)
Daylight saving time:	UTC +4	discontinued 1954

Madagascar has an east-west extension of 6.6 degrees of longitude. Given the country's location in Eastern Africa, this corresponds to about 700 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 27 minutes. This means the sun rises and sets 27 minutes later in the west than in the east.


The East Africa Time also applies in Comoros and in Mayotte.

No more daylight saving time in Madagascar

Due to the sun's orbit around the equator, the days are longer in summer (November to February in the southern 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 the relative proximity to the equator, the impact in Madagascar is not particularly large. Antananarivo is only 2,100 km from the equator. A day in midsummer would then not last from 05:08 to 18:27, but from 06:08 to 19:27. 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, in 1954, the decision was made to finally abandon daylight saving time in Madagascar.

Changes in Daylight Saving Times

In Madagascar Daylight Saving Time has been observed since 1954 until 05/29/1954.