Samoa operates on West Samoa Time (WST), which is 13 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+13). Samoa no longer observes daylight saving time, having discontinued the practice in 2021. The time now remains consistent throughout the year.
In December 2011, Samoa made a historic timezone change, switching from UTC-11 to UTC+13 by skipping December 30, 2011 entirely. This moved Samoa from being one of the last places to see each new day to being one of the first. The capital city Apia and all islands follow the same timezone.
Samoa switched timezones in 2011 to align better with its main trading partners, Australia and New Zealand. Before the switch, Samoa was 21 hours behind Sydney; now it's only 3 hours ahead. The country consists of two main islands, Upolu and Savai'i, and is known for its traditional Polynesian culture, including the fa'a Samoa (the Samoan way).