EAT — East Africa Time
Current time, offset and daylight saving status for East Africa Time.
Current time in EAT
17:12:26
East Africa Time · UTC+03:00
About EAT
East Africa Time is used across the Horn of Africa and does not change through the year.
Working with EAT
UTC+03:00 applies here on every date of the year — there is no summer offset for East Africa Time to switch to, so a time written against it means the same instant in January as in July.
When it is noon UTC, East Africa Time reads 15:00; midnight UTC is 03:00 here. EAT runs 3 h ahead of UTC, so its calendar day begins before the reference clock’s does.
The same standard offset, UTC+03:00, is kept by AST (SA), MSK and TRT, though each follows its own daylight saving rules — or none — so they do not stay aligned all year. One hour to the west of EAT in this directory sits CEST (UTC+02:00); one hour to the east, GST (UTC+04:00).
Clock changes in EAT
East Africa Time has no clock change at any point in the year; UTC+03:00 applies on every date, in Nairobi as everywhere else on the zone.
Of the reference zones in the table below, New York, London, Berlin, Sydney and Los Angeles observe daylight saving, so their difference from EAT shifts twice a year; UTC, Dubai, Kolkata, Singapore and Tokyo stay fixed.
Where EAT is used
In this directory one city keeps EAT: Nairobi. Between them they cover Kenya.
Where EAT stands today
East Africa Time is UTC+03:00 today and will be UTC+03:00 on every other day. A recurring meeting anchored to EAT never drifts against UTC, which makes it a dependable reference for logs kept in Nairobi and for schedules that run across a whole year.
A working day on EAT
Taking Nairobi as the reference point for EAT, and a working day as 09:00 to 17:00:
- New York overlaps for only 1 hours, from 16:00 to 17:00 Nairobi time — late in the day at one end and early at the other.
- London’s working day overlaps with Nairobi’s for 6 hours, from 11:00 to 17:00 Nairobi time.
- Tokyo overlaps for only 2 hours, from 09:00 to 11:00 Nairobi time — late in the day at one end and early at the other.
This close to the equator the solstices make little difference: the sun rises in Nairobi at about 06:33 and sets at about 18:35 in June, and at about 06:24 and 18:36 in December — a shift of minutes rather than hours.
How EAT compares with other zones
Right now EAT runs ahead of UTC, New York, London, Berlin and Los Angeles and behind Dubai, Kolkata, Singapore, Tokyo and Sydney.
| Zone | UTC offset | Difference from EAT |
|---|---|---|
| UTC | UTC+00:00 | 3h ahead |
| New York | UTC-04:00 | 7h ahead |
| London | UTC+01:00 | 2h ahead |
| Berlin | UTC+02:00 | 1h ahead |
| Dubai | UTC+04:00 | 1h behind |
| Kolkata | UTC+05:30 | 2h 30m behind |
| Singapore | UTC+08:00 | 5h behind |
| Tokyo | UTC+09:00 | 6h behind |
| Sydney | UTC+11:00 | 8h behind |
| Los Angeles | UTC-07:00 | 10h ahead |
Larger places currently keeping EAT: Kenya.
Cities using EAT
- Nairobi
- Addis Ababa
- Kampala
Convert EAT to another zone
Related time zones
Time zone rules: IANA tz database release 2026c, applied when this page was generated on 2026-10-09.
Frequently asked questions
What is EAT?
East Africa Time, EAT, is UTC+03:00. East Africa Time is used across the Horn of Africa and does not change through the year.
What is the IANA identifier for EAT?
Africa/Nairobi — the entry that covers Nairobi in the tz database. Use it rather than EAT in software: EAT names one season, Africa/Nairobi names the rules for every date.
Does EAT change for daylight saving?
No. East Africa Time keeps UTC+03:00 on every date; so does AST (SA), MSK and TRT.
How do I convert EAT to my local time?
One hour to the west of EAT in this directory sits CEST (UTC+02:00); one hour to the east, GST (UTC+04:00). For anything beyond that, the converter applies the rules of Africa/Nairobi for the date you give it rather than a remembered figure.
Which cities use EAT?
In this directory one city keeps EAT: Nairobi. Between them they cover Kenya. The boundary is legal rather than geographic: it follows the borders of Kenya, not a line of longitude.
What should I put in a configuration file for EAT?
Africa/Nairobi, never EAT. That entry carries the rules Nairobi actually follows, including when daylight saving starts and ends, so software using it stays correct through a change that a stored offset would miss.