The timezone AST in Saudi Arabia

Only 1 nationwide time zone

Standard time:	UTC +3	Arabia Standard Time (AST)
Daylight saving time:	-	none

Saudi Arabia has an east-west extension of 14.5 degrees of longitude. Given the country's location in Western Asia, this corresponds to about 1500 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 58 minutes. This means the sun rises and sets 58 minutes later in the west than in the east.


The Arabia Standard Time also applies in Yemen, Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait and in Qatar.

No daylight saving time in Saudi Arabia

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 Saudi Arabia is not particularly large. Riyadh is only 2,750 km from the equator. A day in midsummer would then not last from 05:03 to 18:46, but from 06:03 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, daylight saving time was never introduced in Saudi Arabia.