Time Zone History

Saudi Arabia time zone history

Riyadh kept local mean time (UTC+3:06:52) until 1947, tied third-latest switch among the 298 zones with local mean time in the record. The zone’s clock record is used in 4 countries and territories today.

UTC+3

Standard time is UTC+3 all year under the current rules.

tz database name Asia/Riyadh

Convert a time from Saudi Arabia

UTC+3 every day since 1970

UTC+3: today’s standard timeUTC+3:06:52: 7 minutes ahead of today’s standard timeUTC+3: today’s standard timeUTC+3:06:52: 7 minutes ahead oftoday’s standard time

How to read this chart

Before 1970

19401950196019701940195019601970
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec1970198019902000201020202028JFMAMJJASOND1970198019902000201020202028

Standard time changes

DateChangeNew standard timeClock label
Before 1970
March 14, 1947Local mean time (UTC+3:06:52) replacedUTC+3numeric only

Also on UTC+3

Qatar, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Simferopol (Ukraine), Volgograd (Russia), Kenya, Moscow (Russia) and Belarus (nearest first; 1 more on the list of offsets).

Clocks next door since 1970

  • Qatar (491 km): same time except 882 days in 1970–1972.
  • United Arab Emirates (868 km): always 1 hour ahead.
  • Iraq (995 km): same time except 4,729 days in 1982–2007.
  • Iran (1,307 km): usually 30 minutes ahead; different on 6,378 days in 1977–1980, 1991–2005 and 2008–2022.
  • Jordan (1,332 km): usually 1 hour behind; different on 9,931 days in 1973–1978 and 1985–2026; same time today.

How it compares

Saudi Arabia has kept UTC+3 since 1947, with no clock changes since 1970.

On standard time, clocks in Riyadh run 7 minutes behind local mean solar time.