The country with the most time zones in the world is not Russia, but France: how is this possible

The country with the most time zones in the world is not Russia, but France: despite the general belief, in fact, the immense Russian territory is not the one that has the most time slots. At first glance it would seem absurd, considering the enormous difference in terms of geographical dimensions: Russia, in fact, extends from Eastern Europe to the Pacific Ocean for a total of 17,098,242 km²approximately 31 times more than the territory of mainland France (approximately 543,000 km², slightly larger than Italy).

In reality, even the Guinness World Record confirms that this record undoubtedly belongs to France, which has 12 different time zones (compared to the Russian 11) thanks to its overseas territories – most of which are former colonies that extend from the Caribbean to the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean – which include, for example, French Polynesia, French Guiana and New Caledonia.

As also visible in the map below, the French territory is in fact divided between the so-called “Metropolitan France” (the one located in Europe) and the overseas regions, in fact considered part of the country and where the laws of the central state still apply.

More specifically, the 124,600 km² of overseas territories allow France to count the following time zones (UTC refers to Coordinated Universal Time, which is calculated starting from the Greenwich Meridian):

1. Central European Time Zone (UTC+1), which applies in “Metropolitan France”.
2. East African Time Zone (UTC+3), which applies to Mayotte.
3. La Réunion time zone (UTC+4).
4. Southern French time zone (UTC+5).
5. New Caledonian time zone (UTC+11).
6. Wallis and Futuna Islands time zone (UTC+12).
7. Tahiti Time Zone (UTC-10).
8. Marquesas Islands Time Zone (UTC-9.30).
9. Gambier Islands Time Zone (UTC-9).
10. Easter Island Time Zone (UTC-8).
11. Atlantic Time Zone (UTC-4), which includes territories such as Saint Martin and Guadeloupe.
12. French Guiana time zone (UTC-3).

Among other things, these 12 different time zones rise to 13 when summer time comes into force in the overseas community of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon. This is a considerable number if we consider that there are around 39 different time zones in the world: this means that France, with its overseas territories, covers a third of all time zones global.

Russia which, as anticipated, is in second place with 11 time zoneshowever, holds another world record: of these 11 time zones, 10 cover a contiguous territory. Only the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad (UTC +2), located between Lithuania and Poland, is an exception.