The timezone in Sri Lanka

Only 1 nationwide time zone

UTC	+5.5
Standard time:	Myanmar Time (MMT)
Daylight saving time:	discontinued 1945

Sri Lanka has an east-west extension of 2.0 degrees of longitude. Given the country's location in South Asia, this corresponds to about 230 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 Myanmar Time also applies in Burma.

No more daylight saving time in Sri Lanka

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).

However, due to its proximity to the equator, the impact in Sri Lanka would not be particularly large. Colombo is located just 770 km from the equator. A day in midsummer would then not last from 05:55 to 18:29, but from 06:55 to 19:29. 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 1945, the decision was made to finally abandon daylight saving time in Sri Lanka.

Changes in Daylight Saving Times

In Sri Lanka Daylight Saving Time has been observed since 1942 until 10/16/1945.