Africa · Northern Africa · Sovereign state
Current time in Sudan
A single time zone at UTC+02:00.
Friday, June 5, 2026
About Sudan's time
A single time zone.
Sudan uses a single time zone, Central Africa Time (CAT), set at UTC+02:00. Daylight saving time has been discontinued — Sudan hasn’t used DST since the 1980s.
Major cities
Cities of Sudan.
History
How Sudan keeps time.
Sudan’s adoption of modern timekeeping dates to the colonial era under Anglo-Egyptian rule. Initially, local mean time was based on Cairo at UTC+2, but as administrative systems standardized, Sudan settled on UTC+02:00 as its standard time. Unlike some African nations that aligned with Greenwich-based offsets during the colonial period, Sudan gravitated toward an offset matching its immediate geographic longitude and regional economic partners.
Over the decades, Sudan experimented with daylight saving time, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s, but by around 1985 the practice was effectively abandoned. Since then, Sudan has remained on a steady UTC+02:00 without seasonal adjustments.
The civil and political upheavals associated with South Sudan’s independence in 2011 moved more than potential border governance and economic ties than time coordination itself — both nations still keep the same UTC offset — but the political realignment changed how Sudan interacts with its neighbors and international bodies. There were no corresponding changes to the country’s time zone.
Did you know?
Things about Sudan's time.
Although Sudan stretches wide from east to west, it still uses only one official time zone (CAT, UTC+02:00), like much of eastern and central Africa. This means western areas experience solar noon noticeably later than clock noon — people there may start and end their day later in clock terms.
Sudan’s steady use of UTC+02:00 without DST makes it predictable for business and cross-border coordination across east and north Africa, especially with neighboring Egypt, Eritrea, and South Sudan, though Egypt’s own periodic DST decisions can briefly desync schedules.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about Sudan's time zone, daylight saving rules, and how to handle it in software. Can't find what you need? Email [email protected].
- What time zone does Sudan use?
- Sudan uses Central Africa Time (CAT), which is UTC+02:00 year-round.
- Does Sudan observe daylight saving time?
- No, Sudan does not observe daylight saving time. It has stayed on UTC+02:00 consistently for many years, with last DST use ending in the 1980s.
- How many time zones does Sudan have?
- Officially, Sudan has a single time zone (Africa/Khartoum, UTC+02:00). Despite its size, the whole country runs on the same time.
- If I’m in Khartoum, what UTC offset am I in?
- Khartoum and all of Sudan are at UTC+02:00 (Central Africa Time).
- How does Sudan’s time compare to neighboring countries?
- Sudan is generally in line with neighbors like Eritrea, South Sudan, and Uganda (all UTC+02:00), while Egypt can be at UTC+02:00 or UTC+03:00 depending on the season.
- Is sunrise/sunset timing affected by Sudan’s single time zone?
- Yes. Since Sudan spans a wide area east-to-west but uses one official time zone, people in western Sudan tend to experience sunrise and sunset later on the clock than those in eastern Sudan.
Free · Developer API
Time, as JSON.
Every IANA time zone with live offsets, DST status, and the countries and cities that use them — clean, dependable JSON. Sign up free and get an API key in seconds.
countries, cities, convert, DST transitions coming next.
Get your free API key →