Difference In Time Confuses? Understand How Many Time Zones Are In The World

YOGYAKARTA - A time zone is needed to adjust the clock to the position of the sun in various parts of the world. Prior to the time zone, each region had local time calculated based on the position of the sun above the head. This creates a lot of confusion, especially after the development of modern transportation that connects regions with significant time differences.

The zone time was first introduced in the 19th Century by Canadian scientist Sir Sanford Fleming to solve the problem of the puzzling time difference above. With the time zone, the world has standards that can be mutually agreed upon so that global activities can run regularly.

But maybe you're wondering exactly what is the total time zone in the world? This question is not as simple as it seems, because even though in theory the number can be calculated, in reality there are many factors that affect the determination of the time zone, from geographical conditions to political policies. Here's the explanation.

In theory, the world is divided into 24 main time zones, following hours in one day. This is because the earth takes 24 hours to rotate once fully on its axis. With that rule, each ideal time zone covers an area with a difference of 15 degrees of longitude (360 degrees divided by 24 hours).

Referring to the rules above, each time zone should have a time difference of 1 hour from the time zone next to it. But in practice, this is not always the case. Time zone boundaries are often adjusted to state boundaries, administrative lines, and even socio-economic considerations.

As a result, there are several countries that have unique, half an hour, even 45 minutes faster or slower than their neighbor's time zone. This makes the total number of time zones can be more than 24.

Seeing the above reality, the total number of time zones has increased to 38 different time zones in the world. Examples of half-hour time zones are India Standard Time (IST) with UTC+5:30, and Iran Standard Time (IRST) with UTC+330. There is also a time zone with a difference of 45 minutes, such as Nepal Standard Time (NST) with UTC+5:45.

The main reason why the number of time zones of more than 24 is the flexibility given to the state to determine their own official hours. For example, China geographically should have 5 different time zones because its territory stretches very wide. However, the Chinese government has set to use only one official time zone.

On the other hand, other countries actually make more variations. For example, Australia uses three standard time zones and several additional zones with a difference of half an hour. There are also small areas or remote islands that use special time to align with local needs. This is what adds to the total number of time zones to reach more than 30.

As is known, the time zone affects many aspects of human life. For example, in the business world, multinational companies must arrange meeting schedules that are appropriate for employees in various countries. To harmonize this time system, international time standards are used called the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

UTC is the main reference for all time zones in the world. Each time zone is calculated as an addition or reduction from UTC. For example, Jakarta is at UTC+7, while New York is at UTC-5 at standard time.

With the UTC, coordination between countries becomes easier. For example, in the world of aviation, communications, and global trade, all schedules are usually set based on UTC to avoid confusion. So, despite the 38 time zone variations, everything remains connected through UTC as a central reference.