Time zone · Oceania
AST
Apia Standard Time
Apia Standard Time (AST) is the +13:00 zone used exclusively by Samoa in the South Pacific. It steers clear of daylight saving time, offering a consistent 13 hours ahead of UTC that makes it one of the earliest major time regions on Earth—while most of the planet says goodbye to the day, Apia is already deep into the next.
Saturday, June 6, 2026
Current offset
UTC+13:00
Standard · +13
Daylight saving
Not observed
Year-round standard time
IANA zones
1
None observe daylight saving
DST offset
—
No summer variant
About AST
A fixed, year-round offset.
Apia Standard Time (AST) is the +13:00 zone used exclusively by Samoa in the South Pacific. It steers clear of daylight saving time, offering a consistent 13 hours ahead of UTC that makes it one of the earliest major time regions on Earth—while most of the planet says goodbye to the day, Apia is already deep into the next.
IANA zones · the technical identifiers
The zone that resolve to AST.
For software, always store the IANA identifier — never the abbreviation alone. The database keeps these zones distinct because their rules can, and historically did, diverge.
Cities currently on AST
The same hour, city by city.
1 city · all UTC+13:00
Where AST is used
One country.
Same offset · UTC+13:00
Other zones at UTC+13:00 right now.
These named zones share AST's offset today. When daylight saving rules differ, they drift apart for part of the year.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about AST, daylight saving, and how to handle it in software. Can't find what you need? Email [email protected].
- Why is Apia Standard Time fixed at UTC+13:00 with no daylight saving?
- Samoa locks in a year-round +13:00 offset to support a stable daily rhythm, business cycles that align closely with Australia and New Zealand markets, and simply because DST sunrises and sunsets are already perfect for island life.
- What makes Apia Standard Time one of the ‘earliest’ time zones on Earth?
- At +13:00, Apia is the first major zone to greet each new calendar day. By the time it is midnight in Apia, much of Asia and Europe is still finishing the previous afternoon.
- Which countries and territories use Apia Standard Time?
- Only Samoa officially observes Apia Standard Time, making it a single-country zone centered on the Pacific/Apia region.
- Has Samoa ever used daylight saving time?
- Yes. Samoa experimented with a +14:00 period between 2010 and 2021 to better coordinate with trading partners. It dropped daylight saving in April 2021 and returned to permanent +13:00.
- Does Samoa ever share the same clock time as its neighbors?
- During its +14:00 experiment Samoa shared an apparent clock with a few places that also jumped ahead, but today at +13:00 it mostly keeps its own date while nearby like American Samoa remains 24 hours behind for much of the day.
- What’s a surprising fact about Samoa’s date line switch in 2011?
- In December 2011 Samoa skipped an entire calendar day—moving from UTC-11 to UTC+13/+14—so it could trade more easily with Asia and the Pacific, essentially moving to the other side of the International Date Line.
- How does Apia Standard Time affect daily life in Samoa?
- With sunrise and sunset times that barely change year-round thanks to the tropical location and no clock shifts, Apia Standard Time gives Samoans a predictable schedule for work, school, and evening activities like church and family time.
- Is there any upcoming change to Apia Standard Time scheduled?
- There are no known future transitions that would change Samoa’s +13:00 standard time or reintroduce daylight saving.
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