What time is it in Ethiopia?
GMT+3 · Africa/Addis_Ababa
Back to EthiopiaNow in Addis Ababa
GMT+3 UTC+03:00
UTC+03:00
all yearEast Africa Time
Ethiopia keeps a single time zone, East Africa Time, three hours ahead of UTC, and its clocks do not change with the seasons. The time zone database files the whole country under Africa/Addis_Ababa. What people say aloud runs on a different count: almost all Ethiopians use a modified 12-hour clock whose day starts at dawn, so the hour spoken in Addis Ababa sits six hours away from the one on an international timetable.
Today
Daylight in Addis Ababa today
DayLive
12:00
- Sunrise
- 06:13First light 05:52
- Sunset
- 18:16Last light 18:37
- Day length
- 12 h 03 min−1 min on yesterday
- Solar noon
- 12:15Sun at 78°, its highest
Plan a call
Find an hour that works in Ethiopia and elsewhere
The two rows are the same day, hour for hour. Pick a city, then an hour, and the line between the rows marks the office hours both sides share.
Time difference
How far Ethiopia is from other places
Neighbours
- DjiboutiDjiboutiSame time
- EritreaAsmaraSame time
- KenyaNairobiSame time
- SudanKhartoum−1 h
- SomaliaMogadishuSame time
- South SudanJuba−1 h
Around the world
- London−2 h
- New York−7 h
- Los Angeles−10 h
- São Paulo−6 h
- MoscowSame time
- Dubai+1 h
- Delhi+2:30 h
- Beijing+5 h
- Tokyo+6 h
- Sydney+7 h
Clock changes
Ethiopia does not change its clocks
Ethiopia has never used summer time. No clock change is recorded for Addis Ababa in any year, and from 1970 the time zone database holds one offset for the country, UTC+3, with nothing seasonal on top. The hours do reset twice a day in local reckoning, at dawn and again at dusk, but that belongs to how the clock is read. Official time stays where it is.
Daylight
Sunrise and sunset through the year in Addis Ababa
- Sunrise
- 06:13
- Sunset
- 18:16
- Daylight
- 12 h 03 min
- Change
- −1 min
Longest day of 2026: 12 June, 12 h 39 min.
Computed for 9.04, 38.75 at sea level with the NOAA solar equations, to the nearest minute, taking no account of hills.
Writing the time
- Clock
- 12-hour
- Short date
- 05/03/2026
- Long date
- 5 ማርች 2026
- Week starts
- Sunday
- Zone names
- GMT+3
- Time zone database
- Addis Ababa
History
How the clocks in Ethiopia got here
- 1970
- To today.UTC+03:00 all year, no summer time.
From the IANA time zone database, Africa/Addis_Ababa, as the build machine carries it. The database keeps this zone's own history from 1970 only; the years before are told above from the sources.
Common questions
Questions about the time in Ethiopia
What time zone is Ethiopia in?
East Africa Time, abbreviated EAT and three hours ahead of UTC. It covers the whole country, and the time zone database lists it as Africa/Addis_Ababa. Ethiopia keeps the same offset in every month, so the difference from any place that stays on standard time all year never changes. Against places that move their clocks in summer, the gap narrows by an hour during their summer months.
Does Ethiopia change its clocks for daylight saving time?
No. Ethiopia stays on UTC+3 through the year, and no clock change has ever been recorded for Addis Ababa, so there is no spring or autumn date to plan around. Any shift in the difference between Ethiopia and Europe or North America comes from those places moving their own clocks. The only daily reset is in the local way of counting the hours, which restarts at dawn and at dusk.
How does the Ethiopian clock work?
Almost all Ethiopians count the day in two runs of twelve hours tied to the sun. The daytime cycle opens at dawn with 12:00, which is 06:00 East Africa Time, and closes at dusk at 11:59:59, or 17:59:59. The night cycle starts at dusk with a fresh 12:00 and runs to dawn. By this count the first hour of the morning, one o'clock, falls at 07:00 on the international clock. The system was still in common use in 2015, despite pressure to follow international practice.
How is Ethiopian time converted to international time?
Six hours make the difference. Adding six hours to a time given in the local count gives East Africa Time, and taking six hours away from East Africa Time gives the local hour. A meeting set for three o'clock in the local count therefore falls at 09:00 on an international clock, and eight o'clock at night by the local count is 02:00 the next morning in EAT. Put another way, local residents in effect keep a clock three hours behind UTC.
What year is it in Ethiopia?
Ethiopia runs its civil life on its own calendar, the Ethiopian or Geʽez calendar, which counts from a different date for the Annunciation than the one Europe adopted. Its year number is eight below the Gregorian one from 1 January to 10 or 11 September, and seven below for the rest of the year. The new year, Enkutatash in Amharic, falls on 11 September, or on 12 September in the year before a Gregorian leap year.
Why does the Ethiopian calendar have thirteen months?
Twelve months of thirty days each leave five days over, and those days form a short thirteenth month called Pagumen. Every fourth year, without exception, Pagumen gains a sixth day, which ties the leap cycle to the four Evangelists: the leap year is the Luke year. Because Ethiopia adds that day even in the centurial years the Gregorian calendar skips, its dates line up with Gregorian ones in a fixed way only between 1900 and 2099.