The "Eastern Standard Time" is one of the best known time zones worldwide, because the largest cities of the Canadian and the US-American East Coast are located here. It is UTC-5, which is 5 hours behind the Universal Time Coordinated, which starts in Greenwich.
Since Central Europe with the Central European Standard Time lies in the time zone UTC+1, there is usually a difference of 6 hours. Deviations from this occur when some countries or regions switch to daylight saving time. So the time difference between Eastern Standard Time and Central European Standard Time (CET) is -6 hours. To the United Kingdom it is -5 hours and -17 to Melbourne.
Eastern Standard Time is currently used in 9 countries.
Standard Time and Daylight Saving Time
Standard Time is the time zone that is considered optimal in a region according to the position of the sun. In theory, the sun is highest at noon in this part of the globe. In practice, however, there are numerous deviations from this, for example when a country changes to a different time zone for economic reasons.
The daylight saving time that matches EST is "Eastern Daylight Time" (EDT). Canada, the United States and also some Caribbean islands set their clocks forward by one hour to this daylight saving time in the summer and back again in the fall. Other countries, such as Panama, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and Mexico's Cancun region, use EST year-round. They are so close to the equator that the times for sunrise and sunset vary only slightly anyway. Therefore, there is no need to change to daylight saving time.
Countries with EST time
Eastern Standard Time applies to the following countries:
| Country | Region | Standardtime | DST |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bahamas | countrywide | EST | EDT |
| Canada | Toronto | EST | EDT |
| Cayman Islands | countrywide | EST | none |
| Haiti | countrywide | EST | EDT |
| Jamaica | countrywide | EST | none |
| Mexico | Cancun | EST | none |
| Panama | countrywide | EST | none |
| Turks and Caicos Islands | countrywide | EST | EDT |
| United States of America | Michigan | EST | EDT |
International use of the English name
Outside North America, without exception, every name of a time zone indicates where it is located. Thus the West Australian time zone applies in Western Australia, the Amazon time at the Amazon and even the Casey time applies to an area called "Casey" in the Antarctic. Only the time zones associated with the main territory of the United States do not show this. Not even the continent can be recognized by terms like Pacific time, Atlantic time or even Mountain time. In many non-English speaking countries the translated terms are formally correct, but not in common use. If only to make it clear that this is an American time zone, the English designation is often used.
Further Countries in the same timezone of UTC -5
Although the timezone is named "Eastern Standard Time", it is mostly for politcal reasons. It simply means that, e.g., the beginning and ending of daylight savings time always apply here uniformly. There are some other countries, in which the clock strikes the same hour. These countries have the same temporal distance to UTC (Universal Time Coordinated):
| Country | Region | Timezone |
|---|---|---|
| Brazil | Rio Branco | Acre Time (ACT) |
| Colombia | countrywide | Colombia Time (COT) |
| Cuba | countrywide | Cuba Standard Time (CST) |
| Ecuador | Mainland | Ecuador Time (ECT) |
| Peru | countrywide | Peru Time (PET) |
Sources
The time zones and times listed here are based on the IANA "Olsen" time zone database. Designations and their translations were adapted separately. Version used and update: Version 2024.1 on 04/24/2024.
