IANA tz database · zone identifier

Africa/Freetown

The IANA tz database identifier for Greenwich Mean Time in Sierra Leone. Store this string — not the abbreviation, not the offset — and your timestamps stay correct forever.

UTC+00:00Abbreviation GMTNo DST — never observed
Time in Africa/Freetown☾ Night
23:00:09
Wednesday, July 15, 2026
Offset
UTC+00:00
Abbreviation
GMT
DST
No DST

Current offset

UTC+00:00

same year-round

Abbreviation

GMT

used year-round

DST behaviour

Never

has never observed daylight saving

Country

🇸🇱 Sierra Leone

ISO 3166: SL · view country page →

Using this identifier

The string to put in your code.

Africa/Freetown is the identifier to use in code and config for this region. Every modern language, database, and OS resolves it through the same tz database, so the examples here behave identically everywhere.

Avoid storing GMT or +00:00 — abbreviations are ambiguous and fixed offsets can't follow rule changes.

// format a date in this zone
new Intl.DateTimeFormat('en-US', {
timeZone: 'Africa/Freetown',
dateStyle: 'full', timeStyle: 'long'
}).format(new Date());

Offset & DST behaviour

One offset,
84 years.

Africa/Freetown has kept UTC+00:00 year-round since 7 December 1941 — no daylight saving and no offset changes on record since. It is among the most stable identifiers in the database.

Every offset this zone has kept

−00:53:00UTC+00:00 · UNCHANGED 7 December 1941 NOW

Keeping this offset since

7 December 1941

Next transition

None scheduled

no DST rules exist for this zone

Safe to assume

Local = UTC + 0h, always

…but store the identifier anyway

Technical record

The database entry, in full.

source: IANA tz database

IdentifierAfrica/Freetown
ISO country codeSL🇸🇱 Sierra Leone
Reference coordinates8.50°N, 13.25°Wtz database reference point
Standard offsetUTC+00:00abbreviation GMT
Daylight offset—daylight saving has never been observed

Where it applies

All of Sierra Leone, one clock.

Looking for travel-friendly info? See Freetown or Greenwich Mean Time.

🇸🇱
Sierra Leone

7.6M people, one time zone. The whole country resolves to Africa/Freetown.

Country page →
🇸🇱 Freetown
23:00
23:00:09 · GMT
pop. 951KGMT

Related identifiers

Nearby in the database.

Same zone group · Greenwich Mean Time

other identifiers keeping GMT

Same offset · UTC+00:00

other zones keeping this offset right now

Frequently asked questions

Answers specific to this identifier — generated from the database record. Can't find what you need? Email [email protected].

What UTC offset is Africa/Freetown?
Africa/Freetown is UTC+00:00, year-round. The offset never changes because the zone does not observe daylight saving time.
Does Africa/Freetown observe daylight saving time?
No. Africa/Freetown has never observed DST — it has kept UTC+00:00 continuously since 7 December 1941.
Which country uses Africa/Freetown?
Sierra Leone. The identifier covers the whole country.
Is Africa/Freetown the same as GMT?
Africa/Freetown is one of the IANA zones that keeps Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). Use Africa/Freetown in software — GMT is a human-friendly label, not a valid identifier.

Free · Developer API

This zone, as JSON.

Everything on this page — offset, abbreviation, DST rules, coordinates — from one endpoint, always current with the latest tzdb release.

GET /v1/timezones Live

countries, cities, convert, DST transitions coming next.

Get your free API key →
// this identifier, resolved live
GET /v1/timezones?iana=Africa/Freetown
{
"iana": "Africa/Freetown",
"utc_offset": "+00:00",
"abbreviation": "GMT",
"observes_dst": false,
"country": "SL"
}