The timezone EST in Jamaica

Only 1 nationwide time zone

UTC	-5
Standard time:	Eastern Standard Time (EST)
Daylight saving time:	discontinued 1983

Jamaica has an east-west extension of 2.1 degrees of longitude. Given the country's location in Caribbean, this corresponds to about 220 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 8 minutes. This means the sun rises and sets 8 minutes later in the west than in the east.


The Eastern Standard Time also applies in parts of Mexico, on the Cayman Islands, in parts of the United States, on the Turks and Caicos Islands, Bahamas, Panama, Haiti and in parts of Canada.

No more daylight saving time in Jamaica

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 the relative proximity to the equator, the impact in Jamaica is not particularly large. Kingston is only 2,000 km from the equator. A day in midsummer would then not last from 05:31 to 18:46, but from 06:31 to 19:46. 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 1983, the decision was made to finally abandon daylight saving time in Jamaica.

Changes in Daylight Saving Times

In Jamaica Daylight Saving Time has been observed since 1974 until 10/30/1983.