What time is it in Finland?
EET / EEST · Europe/Helsinki
Back to FinlandNow in Helsinki
EET UTC+02:00
UTC+02:00
UTC+03:00 in summerEastern European Standard Time
Finland keeps Eastern European Time, two hours ahead of UTC, and moves to Eastern European Summer Time, UTC+3, between the last Sunday in March and the last Sunday in October. Helsinki and Mariehamn, the capital of Åland, have separate entries in the time zone database but read the same clock, so a single time covers the country from the Turku coast to the Arctic north.
Today
Daylight in Helsinki today
DayLive
12:00
- Sunrise
- 07:17First light 06:36
- Sunset
- 19:04Last light 19:46
- Day length
- 11 h 47 min−5 min on yesterday
- Solar noon
- 13:11Sun at 28°, its highest
Plan a call
Find an hour that works in Finland 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 Finland is from other places
Neighbours
- NorwayOslo−1 h
- RussiaMoscowSame time
- SwedenStockholm−1 h
Around the world
- London−2 h
- New York−7 h
- Los Angeles−10 h
- São Paulo−6 h
- Dubai+1 h
- Delhi+2:30 h
- Beijing+5 h
- Tokyo+6 h
- Sydney+7 h
Clock changes
When the clocks change in Finland
Next change
Sunday, 25 October 2026
Clocks go back one hour: at 04:00 it becomes 03:00 EET, UTC+02:00. The night is an hour longer.
| Year | Clocks go forward | Clocks go back |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 29 March 03:00 → 04:00 | 25 October 04:00 → 03:00 |
| 2027 | 28 March 03:00 → 04:00 | 31 October 04:00 → 03:00 |
| 2028 | 26 March 03:00 → 04:00 | 29 October 04:00 → 03:00 |
| 2029 | 25 March 03:00 → 04:00 | 28 October 04:00 → 03:00 |
| 2030 | 31 March 03:00 → 04:00 | 27 October 04:00 → 03:00 |
Finland first tried summer time in 1942, moving the clocks forward on 2 April and back on 4 October; the government found it of no use and dropped it. It returned in 1981, a year after Sweden, Norway and Denmark had brought it back and in the same year as the Soviet Union, so that Finnish clocks would stay aligned with the neighbours'. For the first two years the change was made at 02:00, and from 1983 an hour later. Finland kept the practice on joining the European Union in 1995, and the government regulation applying the EU directive has been in force since 2001.
In 2017 the Finnish parliament voted for proposals asking the European Union to reconsider summer time, the same year a citizens' initiative to abolish it drew 70,000 signatures. The European Parliament voted to end the seasonal change on 26 March 2019. As of March 2026 the Council of the European Union had not approved the proposal, so Finland still changes its clocks twice a year.
Daylight
Sunrise and sunset through the year in Helsinki
- Sunrise
- 07:17
- Sunset
- 19:04
- Daylight
- 11 h 47 min
- Change
- −5 min
Longest day of 2026: 19 June, 18 h 56 min.
Computed for 60.17, 24.94 at sea level with the NOAA solar equations, to the nearest minute, taking no account of hills.
Writing the time
- Clock
- 24-hour
- Short date
- 5.3.2026
- Long date
- 5. maaliskuuta 2026
- Week starts
- Monday
- Zone names
- EET / EEST
- Time zone database
- Helsinki
History
How the clocks in Finland got here
- 1890
- To 1920.Local mean time, UTC+01:39, before the standard zone.
- 1921
- The move from local mean time, UTC+01:39, to UTC+02:00.
- 1922
- To 1941.UTC+02:00 all year, no summer time.
- 1942
- UTC+02:00 in winter, UTC+03:00 in summer time.
- 1943
- To 1980.UTC+02:00 all year, no summer time.
- 1981
- To today.UTC+02:00 in winter, UTC+03:00 in summer time.
From the IANA time zone database, Europe/Helsinki, as the build machine carries it.
Common questions
Questions about the time in Finland
What time zone is Finland in?
Eastern European Time, UTC+2, in winter, and Eastern European Summer Time, UTC+3, from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October. The standard meridian is 30° East. Most of the country lies in the band where sun time would give UTC+2, but Turku, Åland and the far north-west around Kilpisjärvi sit west of 22°30' East, where the geographical offset would be an hour less.
When do the clocks change in Finland in 2026?
On 29 March 2026 clocks went from 03:00 to 04:00, and on 25 October they go back from 04:00 to 03:00. Both changes happen at 01:00 UTC, the same instant across the European Union, which is why the local hour is later in Finland than in Stockholm. A year later the clocks move on 28 March and 31 October 2027.
Is Finland on the same time as Sweden?
No. Sweden and Norway keep Central European Time, so Stockholm and Oslo are an hour behind Helsinki all year; all three change their clocks on the same nights and the gap never moves. At Muotkavaara, the point where Finland, Norway and Russia meet, three zones touch during Finnish winter time: UTC+1 on the Norwegian side, UTC+2 in Finland and UTC+3 in Russia.
What is the time difference between Finland and Russia?
It depends on the season. Moscow and western Russia have kept UTC+3 all year since October 2014, after three years of permanent summer time. From the last Sunday in October to the last Sunday in March, Helsinki is an hour behind Moscow; in summer, when Finland moves to UTC+3, the two show the same time. Estonia shares Finland's zone and its clock changes.
Will Finland stop changing the clocks?
Not while the European Union rule stands. Finland pressed for the change, and the European Parliament backed ending it in 2019, but the Council has not agreed. If it did, Finland would still have to pick a side. A 2018 Ministry of Justice survey, which drew more than 120,000 answers in its first 24 hours, found a small majority for permanent winter time; a 2019 petition for permanent summer time gathered 50,000 signatures.
How is the time written in Finland?
On the 24-hour clock, with a full stop between hours and minutes: 14.30 rather than 14:30. The colon is common on digital clocks but is not recommended in ordinary text. Leading zeros are dropped, so 8.27, and midnight is written 24.00. Finland used the 12-hour clock until 1928, when it switched to follow a European railway timetable agreement reached in 1926.
Is Åland on the same time as mainland Finland?
Yes. Åland has an entry of its own, Europe/Mariehamn, in the time zone database, because the islands carry their own country code, AX, but its offsets are identical to Europe/Helsinki. By the sun alone Åland would sit an hour behind, since it lies west of 22°30' East. Before a standard time existed, noon in Helsinki was 11:40 in Mariehamn and 12:10 in Kuopio.
When did Finland adopt Eastern European Time?
At midnight on 30 April 1921, Walpurgis Night, when the clocks were advanced 20 minutes and 10.9 seconds. Until then the country ran on Helsinki time, a mean time 1:39:49.2 ahead of Greenwich, measured at the university observatory and used by the railways from 1862. The Diet had asked for a national standard time in 1888 and again in 1897 without success. After independence, a decree of 12 March 1920 set the date of the switch, and the railways adapted without trouble.