No, countries that observe daylight saving time don’t all change their clocks at the same time

Leading up to the end of daylight saving time, VERIFY is publishing a series of stories about the semi-annual changing of time. You can read more here about how two states opted out of daylight saving time, while others want to stay on it permanently.

Daylight saving time officially ends at 2 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 6, in the U.S. this year. But are all other countries that observe daylight saving time “falling back” that day as well?

THE QUESTION

Do all countries change the clocks at the same time?

THE SOURCES

• Energy Policy Act of 2005
• National Research Council Canada
• Legislative Assembly of Manitoba
• Mexico National Meteorology Center
• European Union
• New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs

THE ANSWER

No, all countries don’t change their clocks at the same time for daylight saving time. In fact, some countries don’t observe daylight saving time at all.

WHAT WE FOUND

Countries first utilized daylight saving time during World War I to conserve fuel that generated electricity.

In the U.S., it’s Congress that decides when Americans change their clocks.

In 1966, Congress passed the Uniform Time Act, which established when daylight saving time and standard time would be observed. Nearly 40 years later, Congress passed the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which lengthened daylight saving time to the period observed today: beginning on the second Sunday of March and ending on the first Sunday of November.

Parts of Canada observe daylight saving time, according to the federal government’s research and development organization. In the parts that observe daylight saving time, it begins and ends at the same time as in the U.S.

Parts of Mexico that border the U.S. also observe daylight saving time at the same time, according to Mexico’s National Meteorology Center. But those are the only areas of the country that do. Most of the rest of the country observes daylight saving time from the first Sunday in April through the last Sunday in October.

The European Union observes daylight saving time, but does so from the last Sunday of March through the last Sunday of October. In New Zealand, residents change their clocks in April and September.

Many nations outside of North America and Europe, including India and China, don’t observe daylight saving time at all.

More from VERIFY: Yes, states can opt out of daylight saving time