Are you wondering which countries use the 24-hour time format? Do you want to know what countries use military time?
If yes, then you are reading the right article. In this article, I will tell you which countries use and which countries don’t use the 24-hour time format. Not only this but I will also tell you what is 24-hour time format, how it differs from the 12-hour and military time formats, and why do some countries use 24-hour time?
So keep reading!
Quick Navigation
- What Is 24 Hour Time Format?
- 24 Hour Time Vs 12 Hour Time Format
- Difference Between Military Time And 24 Hour Time Format
- List Of Countries That Use 24 Hour Time
- Countries That Don’t Use 24 Hour Time
- What Countries Use Military Time?
- Why Do Some Countries Use 24-Hour Time?
- FAQs
What Is 24 Hour Time Format?
The 24-hour time format is the time format that uses the numbers from 0 to 24 to denote hours of the day. It starts at midnight (12 at night) and ends at midnight. 24:00 hours represents the end of the day and 00:00 hours represents the beginning of the next day. In this format, the two digits before the colon(:) represent the hour value, and the two digits after the colon represent the minute value.
24-hour watches either have 1 to 24 numbers written on their dials or they either have a sub-dial or watch bezel to represent the 24-hour time format.
24 Hour Time Vs 12 Hour Time Format
In 24 hour format, numbers from 0 to 24 are used to represent the hour value. On the other hand, the 12-hour format only uses numbers from 0 to 12 to denote the hour value. Since the 12-hour time gets repeated in a day to complete 24 hours therefore to differentiate the day and night time, AM and PM are used with the numbers.
For example, if it is 6 o’clock in the morning then it will be denoted as 6:00 hours in 24-hour time and 6 AM in a 12-hour time. And if it is 7 o’clock in the evening then it will be represented as 19:00 hours in 24-hour time format and will be represented as 7 PM in 12-hour format.
Even the affordable watches from G-Shock let you switch the time format between 12 and 24-hour format.
Difference Between Military Time And 24 Hour Time Format
Before we look into the countries that use the 24-hour format and the countries that use the military time format, let us first look if there is any difference between the two or not.
Both the time formats use 0 to 24 numbers to denote the hour value. However, the difference between these two formats lies in their representation of time.
The 24-hour time format does not use 0 before the single-digit hour value and it uses a colon(:) to separate hour and minute values. However, the military time format does not use a colon and uses a 0 before the single-digit hour value.
For eg., 7 o’clock in the morning will be represented as 7:00 in 24-hour format and will be represented as 0700 in military time format.
Similarly, 7 o’clock in the evening will be represented as 19:00 in 24-hour format and will be denoted as 1900 in the military time format.
List Of Countries That Use 24 Hour Time
Below is the list of countries that use the 24-hour time format:
- France
- Germany
- Romania
- Vietnam
And when I say they use 24-hour time, I mean they literally use it everywhere like while casually talking to one another, flight schedules, TV programs schedules, bus schedules, billboards, etc.
Countries That Don’t Use 24 Hour Time
There are some countries in the world that use the mixture of the 12 and 24-hour format. Casually while talking to each other they use the 12-hour format however while displaying the schedule of a flight, train, bus, or something, they use the 24-hour format. But mainly they do not use 24-hour time. These countries are listed below:
- United Kingdom
- India
- United States
- Canada
- Australia
- Japan
- China
- Egypt
- Saudi Arabia
- Ireland
- Mexico
- Pakistan
- Bangladesh
- Malaysia
What Countries Use Military Time?
Military time is not generally used by the common people of a country. However, the military of almost every country in the world uses military time. A few of them are listed below:
- United Kingdom
- France
- Germany
- Romania
- Vietnam
- Japan
- China
- India
- United States
- Canada
- Australia
- Egypt
- Saudi Arabia
- Ireland
- Mexico
- Pakistan
- Bangladesh
- Malaysia
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Why Do Some Countries Use 24-Hour Time?
As discussed, some countries in the world use the 24-hour time format and some don’t. But the question that arises is why do some countries use 24-hour time over 12-hour format?
Some countries prefer to use the 24-hour time format over the 12-hour format because it is more precise. As discussed earlier in this article, in the 12-hour time format the values get repeated after 12 hours, and AM/PM is used to differentiate the day and night time. Therefore there are chances of confusion while using it. For eg., if you want to tell someone to meet you at 8 o’clock and forget to mention AM or PM then the other person will get confused. They will not know whether to meet you at 8 in the morning or evening.
So to avoid this confusion, some countries use the 24-hour time format.
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FAQs
Do All Countries Use 24-Hour Time?
No, not all countries use the 24-hour time format.
Is 24 Hour Time More Precise Than The 12 Hour Time?
Yes, the 24-hour time format is more precise than the 12-hour one.
Is Military Time Different From 24-Hour Time?
Not really, both denote the same time. However, they differ in representation.
