Time zone · Africa
WAT
West Africa Standard Time
West Africa Standard Time (WAT) is UTC+01:00 all year, used by eleven countries in West and Central Africa, including Nigeria, Cameroon, Angola and western DR Congo. There is no daylight saving time.
Thursday, October 15, 2026
Current offset
UTC+01:00
Standard · WAT
Daylight saving
Not observed
Year-round standard time
IANA zones
11
None observe daylight saving
DST offset
—
No summer variant
About WAT
A fixed, year-round offset.
West Africa Standard Time (WAT) is UTC+01:00 all year, used by eleven countries in West and Central Africa, including Nigeria, Cameroon, Angola and western DR Congo. There is no daylight saving time.
IANA zones · the technical identifiers
The 11 zones that resolve to WAT.
For software, always store the IANA identifier — never the abbreviation alone. The database keeps these zones distinct because their rules can, and historically did, diverge.
Cities across WAT
Local time, city by city.
55 cities
Where WAT is used
11 countries.
Same offset · UTC+01:00
Other zones at UTC+01:00 right now.
These named zones share WAT's offset today. When daylight saving rules differ, they drift apart for part of the year.
Convert
WAT to the world's clocks.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about WAT, daylight saving, and how to handle it in software. Can't find what you need? Email [email protected].
- How many countries share West Africa Standard Time?
- Eleven: Angola, Benin, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, DR Congo (western part), Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Niger, Nigeria and the Republic of the Congo.
- Does West Africa Standard Time observe daylight saving time?
- No. WAT does not observe daylight saving time at all—its offset remains fixed year-round, which simplifies scheduling for cross-border activities.
- What makes WAT different from nearby timezone regions in Africa?
- Mainland Africa spans UTC+00:00 (for example Ghana and Senegal) to UTC+03:00 (East Africa Time). WAT sits at UTC+01:00, one hour ahead of GMT countries and one hour behind Central Africa Time (UTC+02:00).
- Is West Africa Standard Time the same as Western European Time?
- No. Western European Time is UTC+00:00 in winter and UTC+01:00 in summer, so it matches WAT only during European summer time. WAT has the same offset as Central European Time in winter.
- Does any part of Nigeria use a different timezone?
- No. Despite its size, all of Nigeria uses WAT (UTC+01:00).
- Why doesn’t WAT observe daylight saving time?
- Geographically, many WAT nations lie close to the equator, where daylight hours are relatively constant throughout the year, making daylight saving unnecessary.
Source: IANA tzdb2026d · Reviewed
Free · Developer API
This time zone, as JSON.
Its defining offset, DST status and member counts, from one endpoint.
Also in the API: time zones by coordinates, conversions that flag daylight saving gaps, and abbreviations decoded.
Moving off WorldTimeAPI? Our drop-in replacement needs no key.