Only around 70 countries worldwide continue to adjust their clocks twice a year, leaving Europe and the United States among a shrinking minority that maintains the 20th-century practice. The vast majority of humanity now lives under a single time zone year-round, according to Polsat News.
Several nations have experimented with daylight saving time only to abandon it. Japan applied the system between 1948 and 1951 under pressure from American occupation authorities, but the public resisted adapting daily life to externally imposed timekeeping and quickly dropped it. China, which has operated a single time zone across the entire country since 1949, tested summer time between 1986 and 1991 before withdrawing due to negligible benefits.
Latin American countries have followed a similar trajectory. Argentina scrapped daylight saving in 2009 after failing to achieve the anticipated energy savings. Brazil followed suit in 2019, with Minister of Mines and Energy Bento Albuquerque describing the gains as “practically zero” after more efficient lighting, increased household appliances and changed habits rendered the measure obsolete. Mexico ended clock changes in October 2022, except in municipalities bordering the United States.
EU talks stall over disagreement
In 2018, the European Commission conducted a public consultation that drew 4.6 million participants, with 84 per cent favouring abolition of the time change. The European Parliament backed the proposal the following year, but legislative progress has stalled in the Council of the European Union. Member states remain divided over whether to adopt permanent summer or winter time.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the energy crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushed the issue further down the political agenda. The directive mandating clock changes remains in force, and the Commission must announce the schedule every five years. In March it published dates extending to 2031.
Outside the EU, the United Kingdom, Norway, Switzerland, most of Canada, Chile, Israel, Egypt, New Zealand and parts of Australia also adjust their clocks. The United States maintains the practice except in Arizona and Hawaii. Ukraine’s parliament passed legislation to end clock changes in July 2024, but President Volodymyr Zelensky did not sign it, leaving Ukrainians still adjusting twice annually.
Poland cannot act alone
Poland will move its clocks back from 3:00 to 2:00 on the night of 24-25 October. Although this is the final change listed in the Polish regulation covering 2022-2026, it will not be the last overall. Poland cannot unilaterally abandon clock changes because it is bound by EU directive. Diverging from the common framework would create chaos in transport, banking and international trade.
Polish public opinion has long favoured ending the practice. A 2019 survey conducted by CBOS for the then Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Technology found 78.3 per cent of respondents wanted to abolish the time change, with 74.2 per cent preferring permanent summer time. That would mean later sunrises in winter—around 8:45 in Warsaw and 9:15 in Szczecin—but longer afternoons.
What this means for Poles in the UK
Poles living in the United Kingdom will continue to change their clocks alongside the rest of the country, as Britain maintains daylight saving time independently of the EU. The UK moves to Greenwich Mean Time on the last Sunday in October and returns to British Summer Time on the last Sunday in March. Because both Poland and the UK follow the same schedule, the one-hour time difference remains constant year-round, simplifying calls and travel planning for Polish families with relatives in both countries.
Until EU member states reach consensus on abolishing clock changes—or the UK government decides to act independently—residents in both Poland and Britain will continue adjusting twice a year. No official consultations or legislative proposals to end the practice are currently under consideration in Westminster, meaning the status quo is likely to persist for the foreseeable future.
