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Africa/Cairo time zone

2:14PMEET

EETUTC+2+7 h vs New York (you)

About Africa/Cairo

Africa/Cairo is the IANA time zone for Egypt. It currently keeps Eastern European Standard Time (EET, UTC+2) in winter and Eastern European Summer Time (EEST, UTC+3) in summer.

Its principal location is Cairo at 30.05° N, 31.25° E.

Abbreviations in use: EET, EEST. Offset page: UTC+2.

Rule for future years (POSIX TZ string)

EET-2EEST,M4.5.5/0,M10.5.4/24

The standard time is called EET and is UTC+2. POSIX writes the offset with the opposite sign (west of Greenwich is positive), which is why the string says "-2". Daylight saving time is called EEST and is UTC+3. It starts on the last Friday of April at 00:00 and ends on the last Thursday of October at 24:00, local time. Software that has no full tzdata copy, such as many embedded devices, can use this string directly as the TZ environment variable.

Upcoming transitions

Computed from tzdata 2026f; local times are read on the clock just before each change.

History of Africa/Cairo since 1970

The record starts with local mean time (UTC+2:05), which ended on September 30, 1900. The first daylight saving time in the record is in 1940.

YearsClocksAbbreviations
1970–1981UTC+2 in winter, UTC+3 in summerEET, EEST
1982mostly UTC+2; also UTC+3 for part of the yearEET, EEST
1983–2010UTC+2 in winter, UTC+3 in summerEET, EEST
2011–2013UTC+2 all yearEET
2014mostly UTC+2; also UTC+3 for part of the yearEET, EEST
2015–2022UTC+2 all yearEET
2023 onwardUTC+2 in winter, UTC+3 in summerEET, EEST

Before 1970

39 offset changes before 1970 in the record; the first 12 and the last 12:

tzdata commits to accuracy from 1970 for every zone (zone1970.tab); earlier entries are historical research and may be incomplete.

Aliases and zones with the same clock

These older or country-specific IDs are links to Africa/Cairo in tzdata. Their pages redirect here: Egypt.

Places on Africa/Cairo

Convert Cairo time

Tip: Alt+↑/↓ steps the time by 15 minutes (Shift: one hour). The link keeps the date, time and direction.

Using Africa/Cairo in code

Every major platform reads the same IANA ID. Store instants in UTC and convert with the ID at display time; never store a fixed offset for a place that has daylight saving time.

// JavaScript
new Date().toLocaleString('en-US', { timeZone: 'Africa/Cairo' })

# Python 3.9+
from zoneinfo import ZoneInfo
from datetime import datetime
datetime.now(ZoneInfo('Africa/Cairo'))

// Java
java.time.ZonedDateTime.now(java.time.ZoneId.of("Africa/Cairo"))

// Go
loc, _ := time.LoadLocation("Africa/Cairo")
time.Now().In(loc)

-- PostgreSQL
SELECT now() AT TIME ZONE 'Africa/Cairo';

# Shell
TZ='Africa/Cairo' date

Platforms ship their own copy of tzdata and update it on their own schedule. After a rule change, outputs can differ until the platform updates; this page uses tzdata 2026f.

Questions

What is the UTC offset of Africa/Cairo?
UTC+2 in winter and UTC+3 in summer (daylight saving time from the last Friday of April at 12:00 AM to the last Thursday of October at 12:00 PM).
Does Africa/Cairo observe daylight saving time?
Yes: clocks move one hour forward on the last Friday of April at 12:00 AM and back on the last Thursday of October at 12:00 PM.
Is Egypt the same as Africa/Cairo?
Yes. Egypt is a link (alias) to Africa/Cairo in tzdata and gives the same time since 1970. It remains a valid ID.
Which countries use Africa/Cairo?
Egypt, according to zone1970.tab in tzdata.

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