Time in Micronesia — regions, cities and time zones

Current time in Palikir

Palikir lies on the island of Pohnpei and keeps UTC+11 all year. The IANA identifier is Pacific/Pohnpei. The capital is a purpose-built administrative settlement a short distance from Kolonia, the island's older and larger town — both keep the same clock, as does the whole state.

Being at UTC+11 puts Palikir among the first inhabited places to begin a calendar day. Its offset matches the Solomon Islands and parts of Russia's far east, and is one hour ahead of the Australian east coast in winter.

Two zones across four states

The federation is made up of four states strung across roughly 2,700 kilometres of ocean. That east-west spread is why one offset would not do. Yap (UTC+10) — westernmost state, IANA zone Pacific/Chuuk

Chuuk (UTC+10) — the lagoon state, same offset as Yap Pohnpei (UTC+11) — home to Palikir and Kolonia, zone Pacific/Pohnpei Kosrae (UTC+11) — easternmost, zone Pacific/Kosrae The dividing line falls between Chuuk and Pohnpei. A domestic flight eastward across that gap costs an hour on the wrist even though it is a single country's airspace throughout.

Why no daylight saving here

Micronesia sits within a few degrees of the equator. Day length is close to twelve hours year-round, and the sun rises and sets at nearly the same clock time in December as in June. There is no dark winter morning to rescue and no long summer evening to extend.

Where the sun clocks in at six and clocks out at six, every day of the year, a government would have to be very bored indeed to invent summer time. None of the four states has adopted a seasonal change, and the offsets have been stable in daily use. For scheduling purposes, the country behaves as two fixed columns on a chart.

Coordinating across the Pacific

A few reference points for anyone working with the islands: Yap and Chuuk share an offset with Guam, Papua New Guinea and Vladivostok. Pohnpei and Kosrae share an offset with the Solomon Islands and Nouméa.

Against UTC, subtract ten or eleven hours to convert Micronesian time to UTC. Against the US mainland, the gap is large enough that a working day in Pohnpei overlaps almost nothing of a working day in New York — expect asynchronous correspondence.

The neighbouring Republic of Palau, often confused with Micronesia because of shared history, is a separate country at UTC+9. The Marshall Islands, also formerly part of the same trust territory, sit at UTC+12. The three are frequently lumped together and should not be.

Islands and settlements

Beyond the four state centres, the country includes hundreds of outer islands and atolls, all following their state's offset without local variation. The main population centres: Palikir and Kolonia — Pohnpei

Weno — the main town of Chuuk Colonia — the centre of Yap, not to be confused with Kolonia on Pohnpei Tofol — Kosrae The similarity between Kolonia and Colonia has caused more scheduling confusion than the time zones ever have. They are on different islands, in different states, and an hour apart.