These are the countries in Europe that do not change it

In the early hours of this Sunday the clock changes again in Spain. Although it is a common practice in much of the European continent, there are some countries that choose to maintain the same schedule throughout the year, thus avoiding the biannual changes in spring and autumn.

The time change to be recorded in the early hours of this Saturday, October 26 to Sunday, October 27 was established for make better use of sunlight and save energy. However, in recent years there has been an intense debate about this and many experts point out that this supposed energy saving is minimal and that the adjustment negatively affects people’s well-being, causing disorders in sleep patterns and affecting their productivity. .

The countries in Europe that do not change the time

Thus, although in Spain the time is still changed in spring and autumn, there are other countries in Europe that do not do so. These are the following:

• Icelandwhich despite being at a latitude where sunlight varies drastically between summer and winter, does not adjust its clocks and maintains the same schedule throughout the year.
• Türkiyewhich although is not a country in the European Union, chose in 2016 to stop changing the time and maintain daylight saving time throughout the year. The objective is to make the most of the hours of light during the winter.
• Russia It is not from the European Union either, but it is also a relevant example when it comes to time change. In 2014 it also abandoned the time change and adopted winter time permanently.
• Belaruswhich has followed the example of Russia and removed time changes on its territory.
• Ukrainefor its part, has announced that it will stop changing the time starting in 2025.

In Asia, China and Japan stand out; in America, the United States (only some states change the time on November 4) and countries in Central and South America, except Chile, Paraguay and part of Brazil; in Oceania, New Zealand and Australia stand out; and in Africa all countries maintain their current schedule except Egypt.

Theories for and against the time change

According to experts, the time change represents energy and economic savings since hours of light are saved from the sun to the detriment of the switch.

From the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE) ensure that more hours of sunshine are used and, therefore, electricity consumption is reduced. The IDEA estimates that the savings could be around 6 euros a year. Although, a priori, the figure does not seem like much, if you multiply those 6 euros by, approximately, 24 million homes In Spain, the savings figure grows exponentially, reaching up to 144 million euros.

Among the detractors of the time change they recognize that there is a certain energy savingbut compared to 20 billion euros Of total energy expenditure, 144 million is an insignificant amount. However, one must also take into account the number of energy savings of companies and industries, so this saving of 144 million euros would amount to 350 million. However, according to detractors of the time change, this figure is still far from total energy expenditure.

Another important factor, which enters fully into the theory, is the climate. In Spain, for example, with a mild wintercompared to other European countries, people will spend more time outside your home as there will be more hours of light and, therefore, spending on gas and electricity will be reduced.