Kazakhstan operates on a single unified timezone, 5 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+5). In March 2024, Kazakhstan eliminated its second timezone (UTC+6 in the east), unifying the entire country under UTC+5. Kazakhstan does not observe daylight saving time.
All major cities including Astana (the capital), Almaty, Shymkent, Aktobe, and Karaganda now follow the same time.
Kazakhstan is the world's largest landlocked country and the ninth-largest country overall. Before the 2024 timezone unification, Kazakhstan had two timezones due to its vast east-west span of over 3,000 km. The Baikonur Cosmodrome, the world's first and largest space launch facility, is located in Kazakhstan and still used by Russia's space program.