Africa · Western Africa · Sovereign state
Current time in Mauritania
A single time zone at null.
Wednesday, October 14, 2026
About Mauritania's time
A single time zone.
Mauritania operates on a single timezone, Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), with no observance of daylight saving time. The entire country, including the capital Nouakchott, stays synchronized to this offset year-round.
Major cities
Cities of Mauritania.
History
How Mauritania keeps time.
Mauritania first adopted Greenwich Mean Time in 1912, under French colonial rule. From 1934 it used UTC-01:00, and it returned to GMT in November 1960, the month it gained independence. It has stayed on UTC+00:00, without daylight saving time, ever since.
Did you know?
Things about Mauritania's time.
Despite spanning a significant east-west geographic range—stretching from the Atlantic coast near 17°W to about 5°W in the east—Mauritania uses only one timezone (UTC+0:00), which means solar noon in the far east comes about 45 minutes earlier than in Nouakchott on the coast. This uniformity simplifies national coordination but results in notable discrepancies between clock time and actual daylight patterns, especially in remote desert areas. Additionally, Mauritania does not observe daylight saving time, a choice shared by most sub-Saharan African nations due to minimal variation in daylight hours near the equator. Mauritania shares GMT with its neighbors Senegal and Mali, while Algeria to the northeast uses UTC+01:00.
Convert
Mauritania to the world's clocks.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about Mauritania's time zone, daylight saving rules, and how to handle it in software. Can't find what you need? Email [email protected].
- What time zone is Mauritania in?
- Mauritania operates on Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), which is UTC+0:00. There is no daylight saving time, so this offset remains constant throughout the year.
- Does Mauritania observe daylight saving time?
- No, Mauritania does not observe daylight saving time. The country uses GMT year-round without any seasonal clock adjustments.
- How many time zones does Mauritania have?
- Mauritania has only one time zone: Greenwich Mean Time (GMT, UTC+0:00). The entire country uses the same time regardless of location.
- Is Mauritania in the same time zone as Senegal?
- Yes. Mauritania and Senegal both use Greenwich Mean Time (UTC+00:00) all year, so their clocks always match.
- Why does Mauritania use GMT instead of a local time zone?
- Mauritania first adopted GMT in 1912 under French rule, used UTC-01:00 from 1934, and returned to GMT in 1960, the year of independence. Its location near the Prime Meridian makes GMT a geographically reasonable choice, though solar time varies across its large territory.
- Are there any parts of Mauritania with a different time zone?
- No. Despite its vast size and east-west span, the entire country—including the capital Nouakchott, the desert interior, and border regions—officially observes the same GMT (UTC+0:00) time zone.
Source: IANA tzdb2026d · Reviewed
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This country, as JSON.
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