The timezone CAT in Rwanda

Only 1 nationwide time zone

UTC	+2
Standard time:	Central Africa Time (CAT)
Daylight saving time:	none

Rwanda has an east-west extension of 1.6 degrees of longitude. Given the country's location in Eastern Africa, this corresponds to about 180 kilometers. With such a small extent the course of the sun at different positions in the country hardly matters. The position of the sun in the west of the country deviates from that in the east only about 7 minutes. This means the sun rises and sets 7 minutes later in the west than in the east.


The Central Africa Time also applies in Malawi, Burundi, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Sudan, Sudan, in parts of the Congo (Dem. Republic), in Zambia, Mozambique and in Namibia.

No daylight saving time in Rwanda

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 its proximity to the equator, the impact in Rwanda would not be particularly large. Kigali is located just 220 km from the equator. A day in midsummer would then not last from 05:50 to 18:06, but from 06:50 to 19:06. 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 Rwanda.