Kazakhstan switching to single time zone from March 1

ASTANA. Jan 19 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan will switch to a single time zone from March 1, 2024, according to the amendments to the government resolution on the procedure for time computation in the country, the Kazakh Trade and Integration Ministry said on Friday.

"The amendments introduce a single time zone throughout the national territory from midnight on March 1, 2024. Thus, the entire territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan will belong to the fifth time zone (UTC+5)," the ministry said.

The document tasks the administrations of the cities of Astana, Almaty and Shymkent, the Akmola, Almaty, Zhambyl, Karaganda, Kostanai, Pavlodar, North Kazakhstan, Turkestan and East Kazakhstan regions, and the Abai, Zhetysu and Ulytau districts to set local time one hour back on the night of February 29 to March 1, 2024.

At present, Kazakhstan lives in two time zones, UTC+5 and UTC+6. Most of the territory, except for the western regions, lies within the UTC+6 zone.

Kazakh scientists and experts said earlier that the UTC+6 time zone "does not correspond to natural solar time, which negatively affects biological rhythms and human health." The scientists believe that in addition to health benefits, the establishment of a single time zone will eliminate time barriers between residents of different regions of the country, improve coordination of transport and other communications, and have a beneficial effect on doing business, as well as the interaction of government bodies and emergency services.