The timezone CHST in Northern Marianas

Only 1 nationwide time zone

Standard time:	UTC +10	Chamorro Standard Time (CHST)
Daylight saving time:	UTC +11	discontinued 1977

The Northern Mariana Islands have an east-west extent of 0.13 degrees longitude. Given the country's location in Micronesia, this corresponds to about 14 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 32 seconds. This means the sun rises and sets 32 seconds later in the west than in the east.


The Chamorro Standard Time also applies in Guam.

No more daylight saving time on the Northern Mariana Islands

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 on the Northern Mariana Islands is not particularly large. Saipan is only 1,700 km from the equator. A day in midsummer would then not last from 05:46 to 18:50, but from 06:46 to 19:50. 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 1977, the decision was made to finally abandon daylight saving time on the Northern Mariana Islands.

Changes in Daylight Saving Times

On the Northern Mariana Islands Daylight Saving Time has been observed since 1959 until 08/28/1977.