Europe · Northern Europe · Sovereign state
Current time in Sweden
A single time zone at UTC+02:00. Currently observing daylight saving time.
Thursday, October 15, 2026
About Sweden's time
A single time zone.
Sweden keeps things simple with a single timezone, Central European Time (UTC+01:00), switching to CEST (UTC+02:00) during the summer months. It follows the same daylight saving schedule as most of the European Union.
Next clock change
2026 Sunday · clocks fall back
Clocks fall back by one hour · next week.
Daylight saving schedule
Major cities
Cities of Sweden.
History
How Sweden keeps time.
Sweden adopted a national standard time on January 1, 1879, about 14 seconds ahead of UTC+01:00, and moved to exactly UTC+01:00 (Central European Time) on January 1, 1900. Before this, local mean time varied across the country. Daylight saving time was first introduced in Sweden on May 15, 1916, during World War I, but was abandoned in 1917. It was not used again until 1980 and has been observed every year since. From 1981, clocks sprang forward on the last Sunday of March and fell back on the last Sunday of September; since 1996 they have fallen back on the last Sunday of October, in line with the EU schedule.
Did you know?
Things about Sweden's time.
Despite spanning a large geographic area from north to south—roughly between latitudes 55°N and 69°N—Sweden sticks with a single timezone. This means that in summer, far northern areas like Kiruna experience 'midnight sun' with near-24-hour daylight, while southern cities like Malmö have more conventional sunset times, though still very late by global standards. Stockholm itself enjoys nearly 18–19 hours of daylight in June. Stockholm lies at about 18°E, slightly east of the 15°E meridian that CET is based on, so solar noon comes on average around 11:50 AM in winter, and around 12:50 PM in summer with daylight saving time.
Convert
Sweden to the world's clocks.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about Sweden's time zone, daylight saving rules, and how to handle it in software. Can't find what you need? Email [email protected].
- What timezone is Sweden in?
- Sweden operates on Central European Time (CET), which is UTC+01:00. During daylight saving time (late March to late October), it switches to CEST (UTC+02:00).
- Does Sweden observe daylight saving time?
- Yes, Sweden observes daylight saving time. Clocks spring forward one hour on the last Sunday in March and fall back on the last Sunday in October, in line with EU regulations.
- Is all of Sweden in the same timezone?
- Yes, the entire country—including its far northern regions like Kiruna and southern cities like Malmö—uses a single time zone: Central European Time (UTC+01:00), or CEST (UTC+02:00) in summer.
- How many hours ahead of UTC is Sweden?
- Sweden is UTC+01:00 during standard time and UTC+02:00 during daylight saving time (roughly late March through late October).
- How do I schedule a video call with someone in Sweden from the US?
- Sweden is 6 hours ahead of US Eastern Time (9 hours ahead of Pacific Time) for most of the year. For a few weeks in March, and again from late October to early November, the US and Europe change clocks on different dates and the gap is 5 hours.
- Why does it stay light so late in Swedish summers?
- Sweden's high latitude is the main reason, and summer daylight saving time adds an hour: around midsummer the sun sets at about 10 PM in southern Sweden, and north of the Arctic Circle it does not set at all.
Source: IANA tzdb2026d · Reviewed
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This country, as JSON.
Its default time zone, zone and city counts and DST summary, from one endpoint.
Also in the API: time zones by coordinates, conversions that flag daylight saving gaps, and abbreviations decoded.
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