The modification has been made to the Government Decree governing time calculation in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Commencing on March 1, 2024, a singular time zone will be implemented uniformly throughout the entire country.
This means that the 5th time zone (UTC+5) will be applied uniformly throughout the Republic of Kazakhstan. Previously, Kazakhstan operated with two time zones, UTC+5 and UTC+6, with the majority of the country situated in the UTC+6 zone, excluding western regions.
As per the amendments, the local time in several regions, including Astana, Almaty, Shymkent, and others, will be set back by 1 hour on the night of February 29, 2024, to align with the new time zone at 00:00 on March 1, 2024.
The decision to establish a single time zone was proposed by Kazakh scientists and experts who formed a working group to address time calculation issues. Created in February 2023, the group comprised representatives from scientific institutes, medical universities, government bodies, and members of Parliament.
After a year of comprehensive study, the working group recommended the adoption of UTC+5 as the most suitable time zone for Kazakhstan, closely aligned with natural time. The international context was also considered, with findings indicating that 175 countries worldwide operate on a single time zone, emphasizing the global norm.
Experts anticipate positive outcomes from this change, foreseeing the elimination of temporal barriers between residents of different regions, improved coordination in transport and communication, and enhanced efficiency in business operations and interaction between government agencies and emergency services.
The resolution is set to be officially published and will come into effect on March 1, 2024.
