0 WHEN DOES 'DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME' BEGINS AND ENDS FOR 2011?

Well, that depends on where you live.

Most of the United States and Canada begins Daylight Saving Time at 2:00 a.m. on the second Sunday in March and reverts to standard time on the first Sunday in November. In the U.S., each time zone switches at a different time.

In the European Union, Summer Time begins and ends at 1:00 a.m. Universal Time (Greenwich Mean Time). It begins the last Sunday in March and ends the last Sunday in October. In the EU, all time zones change at the same moment.

Today, approximately 70 countries utilize Daylight Saving Time in at least a portion of the country. Most areas of North America and Europe observe daylight saving time (DST), while most areas of Africa and Asia do not.  Japan, India, and China are the only major industrialized countries that do not observe some form of daylight saving.
South America is mixed, with most countries in the warmer north of the continent near the equator not observing DST, while Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay and southern parts of Brazil do.  Oceania is also mixed, with New Zealand and parts of southern Australia observing DST, while most other areas do not.

What is Daylight Saving Time?

Daylight Saving Time (DST)—also "summer time" in several countries including in British English and European official terminology (see Terminology)—is the practice of temporarily advancing clocks during the summer time so that afternoons have more daylight and mornings have less. Typically clocks are adjusted forward one hour near the start of spring and are adjusted backward in autumn.  Modern DST was first proposed in 1895 by George Vernon Hudson.  Many countries have used it since then; details vary by location and change occasionally. When DST is not observed, it is called standard time, normal time or winter time.

Daylight Saving Time Around the World

Equatorial and tropical countries (lower latitudes) generally do not observe Daylight Saving Time. Since the daylight hours are similar during every season, there is no advantage to moving clocks forward during the summer. China has had a single time zone since May 1, 1980, observing summer Daylight Saving Time from 1986 through 1991; they do not observe DST now.

A

COUNTRY	REGION/STATES	DST START and END Dates
Afghanistan	All locations	No DST in 2011
Albania	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27. END: Sunday, October 30
Algeria	All locations	No DST in 2011
Andorra	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27. END: Sunday, October 30
Angola	All locations	No DST in 2011
Anguilla	All locations	No DST in 2011
Antarctica	Most locations (Ex. Mawson) Some locations (Ex. South Pole)	No DST in 2011 START:Sunday, September 25 END:Sunday, April 3
Antigua and Barbuda	All locations	No DST in 2011
Argentina	All locations	No DST in 2011
Armenia	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27. END: Sunday, October 30
Aruba	All locations	No DST in 2011
Australia	Most locations (Ex. Melbourne) Queensland, Northern Territory, Western Australia,Christmas Island (Ex. Brisbane) Lord Howe Island Other (Ex. Macquarie Island)	START:Sunday, October 2 END: Sunday, April 3 No DST in 2011 START:Sunday, October 2 END: Sunday, April 3 DST All Year in 2011.
Austria	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27. END: Sunday, October 30
Azerbaijan	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27. END: Sunday, October 30

B

COUNTRY	REGION/STATES	DST START and END Dates
Bahrain	All locations	No DST in 2011
Bangladesh	All locations	No DST in 2011
Barbados	All locations	No DST in 2011
Belarus	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27. DOES NOT END this year
Belgium	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27. END: Sunday, October 30
Belize	All locations	No DST in 2011
Benin	All locations	No DST in 2011
Bermuda	All locations	START: Sunday, March 13. END: Sunday, November 6
Bhutan	All locations	No DST in 2011
Bolivia	All locations	No DST in 2011
Bosnia and Herzegovina	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27. END: Sunday, October 30
Botswana	All locations	No DST in 2011
Brazil	Most locations (Ex. Rio de Janeiro) Amazonas, Pernambuco, Sergipe, Para,Paraíba, Ceará, Amapá, Alagoas, Rondônia, Rio Grande do Norte, Piauí, Maranhão, Acre, Roraima, Tocantins (Ex. Manaus) Bahia	START:Sunday, October 16 END:Sunday, February 20 No DST in 2011 START: Sunday, October 16 END: DOES NOT END this year
Britische Jungferninseln	All locations	No DST in 2011
British Indian Ocean Territory	All locations	No DST in 2011
Brunei	All locations	No DST in 2011
Bulgaria	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27. END: Sunday, October 30
Burkina Faso	All locations	No DST in 2011
Burundi	All locations	No DST in 2011

C

COUNTRY	REGION/STATES	DST START and END Dates
Cambodia	All locations	No DST in 2011
Cameroon	All locations	No DST in 2011
Canada	Most locations (Ex.Montreal) Much of Saskatchewan, small region of British Columbia, small region of Nunavut Territory, small region of Quebec, small region of Ontario	START: Sunday, March 13 END: Sunday, November 6 No DST in 2011
Cape Verde	All locations	No DST in 2011
Cayman Islands	All locations	No DST in 2011
Central African Republic	All locations	No DST in 2011
Chad	All locations	No DST in 2011
Chile	Most locations(Ex. Santiago) Other (Ex. Easter Island)	START: Sunday, August 21 END:Sunday, May 8 START: Sunday, August 20 END:Sunday, May 7
China	All locations	No DST in 2011
Colombia	All locations	No DST in 2011
Commonwealth of the Norther Mariana Islands	All locations	No DST in 2011
Comoros	All locations	No DST in 2011
Cook Islands	All locations	No DST in 2011
Costa Rica	All locations	No DST in 2011
Cote d'lvoire	All locations	No DST in 2011
Croatia	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27 END: Sunday, October 30
Cuba	All locations	START: Sunday, March 20 END: Sunday, October 30
Curaçao	All locations	No DST in 2011
Cyprus	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27 END: Sunday, October 30
Czech Republic	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27 END: Sunday, October 30

D

COUNTRY	REGION/STATES	DST START and END Dates
Democratic Republic of the Congo	All locations	No DST in 2011
Denmark	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27 END: Sunday, October 30
Departmental Collectivity of Mayotte	All locations	No DST in 2011
Dijibouti	All locations	No DST in 2011
Dominica	All locations	No DST in 2011
Dominican Republic	All locations	No DST in 2011

E

COUNTRY	REGION/STATES	DST START and END Dates
East Timor	All locations	No DST in 2011
Ecuador	All locations	No DST in 2011
Egypt	All locations	No DST in 2011
El Salvador	All locations	No DST in 2011
Equatorial Guinea	All locations	No DST in 2011
Eritrea	All locations	No DST in 2011
Estonia	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27 END: Sunday, October 30
Ethiopia	All locations	No DST in 2011

F

COUNTRY	REGION/STATES	DST START and END Dates
Falkland Islands	All locations	DST All Year in 2011
Färöer	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27 END: Sunday, October 30
Fiji	All locations	START: Sunday, October 23 END: Sunday, March 6
Finland	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27 END: Sunday, October 30
France	Most locations (Ex. Paris) Tahiti, New Caledonia, Marquesas Islands	START: Sunday, March 27 END: Sunday, October 30 No DST in 2011
Französisch-Guayana	All locations	No DST in 2011
Französisch-Polynesien	All locations	No DST in 2011

G

COUNTRY	REGION/STATES	DST START and END Dates
Gabon	All locations	No DST in 2011
Gaza Strip	All locations	START: Saturday, April 2 END: Monday, August 1
Georgia	All locations	No DST in 2011
Germany	All locations	START: Saturday, March 27 END: Sunday, October 30
Ghana	All locations	No DST in 2011
Gibraltar	All locations	START: Saturday, March 27 END: Sunday, October 30
Greece	All locations	START: Saturday, March 27 END: Sunday, October 30
Greenland	Most locations(Ex. Nuuk) Ittoqqortoormiit Qaanaaq Danmarkshavn	START: Saturday, March 26 END: Saturday, October 29 START: Sunday, March 27 END: Sunday, October 30 START: Sunday, March 13 END: Sunday, November 6 No DST in 2011
Grenada	All locations	No DST in 2011
Guadeloupe	All locations	No DST in 2011
Guatemala	All locations	No DST in 2011
Guinea	All locations	No DST in 2011
Guinea-Bissau	All locations	No DST in 2011
Guyana	All locations	No DST in 2011

H

COUNTRY	REGION/STATES	DST START and END Dates
Haiti	All locations	No DST in 2011
Holy See (Vatican City)	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27 END: Sunday, October 30
Honduras	All locations	No DST in 2011
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region	All locations	No DST in 2011
Hungary	All locations	START: Saturday, March 27 END: Sunday, October 30

I

COUNTRY	REGION/STATES	DST START and END Dates
Iceland	All locations	No DST in 2011
India	All locations	No DST in 2011
Indonesia	All locations	No DST in 2011
Iran	All locations	START: Tuesday, March 22 END: Thursday, September 22
Iraq	All locations	No DST in 2011
Ireland	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27 END: Sunday, October 30
Isle of Man	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27 END: Sunday, October 30
Israel	All locations	START: Friday, April 1 END: Sunday, October 2
Italy	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27 END: Sunday, October 30

J, K, L

COUNTRY	REGION/STATES	DST START and END Dates
Jamaica	All locations	No DST in 2011
Japan	All locations	No DST in 2011
Jordan	All locations	START: Friday, April 1 END: Friday, October 28
Kazakhstan	All locations	No DST in 2011
Kenya	All locations	No DST in 2011
Kerguelen	All locations	No DST in 2011
Kiribati	All locations	No DST in 2011
Kosovo	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27 END: Sunday, October 30
Kuwait	All locations	No DST in 2011
Kyrgyzstan	All locations	No DST in 2011
Laos	All locations	No DST in 2011
Latvia	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27 END: Sunday, October 30
Lebanon	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27 END: Sunday, October 30
Lesotho	All locations	No DST in 2011
Liberia	All locations	No DST in 2011
Libya	All locations	No DST in 2011
Liechtenstein	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27 END: Sunday, October 30
Lithuania	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27 END: Sunday, October 30
Luxembourg	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27 END: Sunday, October 30

M, N, O

COUNTRY	REGION/STATES	DST START and END Dates
Macau Special Administrative Region	All locations	No DST in 2011
Madagascar	All locations	No DST in 2011
Malawi	All locations	No DST in 2011
Malaysia	All locations	No DST in 2011
Maldives	All locations	No DST in 2011
Mali	All locations	No DST in 2011
Malta	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27 END: Sunday, October 30
Marshall Islands	All locations	No DST in 2011
Martinique	All locations	No DST in 2011
Mauritania	All locations	No DST in 2011
Mauritius	All locations	No DST in 2011
Mexico	Most locations (Ex. Mexico City) Baja California, much of Chihuahua,Tamaulipas, Sonora (Ex. Hermosillo)	START: Sunday, April 3 END: Sunday, October 30 START: Sunday, March 13 END: Sunday, November 6 No DST in 2011
Micronesia	All locations	No DST in 2011
Moldova	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27 END: Sunday, October 30
Monaco	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27 END: Sunday, October 30
Mongolia	All locations	No DST in 2011
Montenegro	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27 END: Sunday, October 30
Montserrat	All locations	No DST in 2011
Morocco	All locations	START: Sunday, April 3 END: Sunday, July 31
Mozambique	All locations	No DST in 2011
Myanmar	All locations	No DST in 2011
Namibia	All locations	START: Sunday, September 4 END: Sunday, April 3
Nauru	All locations	No DST in 2011
Nepal	All locations	No DST in 2011
Netherlands	Most locations (Ex. Amsterdam) Saint Martin	START: Sunday, March 27 END: Sunday, October 30 No DST in 2011
New Zealand	All locations	START: Sunday, September 25 END: Sunday, April 3
Nicaragua	All locations	No DST in 2011
Niger	All locations	No DST in 2011
Nigeria	All locations	No DST in 2011
Niue	All locations	No DST in 2011
Norfokinsel	All locations	No DST in 2011
North Korea	All locations	No DST in 2011
Norway	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27 END: Sunday, October 30
Oman	All locations	No DST in 2011

P, Q, R

COUNTRY	REGION/STATES	DST START and END Dates
Pakistan	All locations	No DST in 2011
Palau	All locations	No DST in 2011
Panama	All locations	No DST in 2011
Papua New Guinea	All locations	No DST in 2011
Paraguay	All locations	START: Sunday, October 2 END: Sunday, April 10
Peru	All locations	No DST in 2011
Philippines	All locations	No DST in 2011
Pitcairninseln	All locations	No DST in 2011
Poland	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27 END: Sunday, October 30
Portugal	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27 END: Sunday, October 30
Puerto Rico	All locations	No DST in 2011
Qatar	All locations	No DST in 2011
Republic of Macedonia	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27 END: Sunday, October 30
Republic of South Sudan	All locations	No DST in 2011
Republic of the Congo	All locations	No DST in 2011
Reunion	All locations	No DST in 2011
Romania	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27 END: Sunday, October 30
Russia	Most locations (Ex. Moscow) Some locations (Ex. Anadyr)	START: Sunday, March 27 END: DOES NOT END this year No DST in 2011
Rwanda	All locations	No DST in 2011
Rwanda	All locations	No DST in 2011

S

COUNTRY	REGION/STATES	DST START and END Dates
Saint Kitts and Nevis	All locations	No DST in 2011
Saint Lucia	All locations	No DST in 2011
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	All locations	No DST in 2011
Samoa	All locations	START: Saturday, September 24 END: Saturday, April 2
San Marino	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27 END: Sunday, October 30
Sao Tome and Principe	All locations	No DST in 2011
Saudi Arabia	All locations	No DST in 2011
Senegal	All locations	No DST in 2011
Serbia	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27END: Sunday, October 30
Seychelles	All locations	No DST in 2011
Sierra Leone	All locations	No DST in 2011
Singapore	All locations	No DST in 2011
Slovakia	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27END: Sunday, October 30
Slovenia	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27END: Sunday, October 30
Solomon Islands	All locations	No DST in 2011
Somalia	All locations	No DST in 2011
South Africa	All locations	No DST in 2011
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands	All locations	No DST in 2011
South Korea	All locations	No DST in 2011
Spain	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27END: Sunday, October 30
Sri Lanka	All locations	No DST in 2011
St. Helena	All locations	No DST in 2011
Sudan	All locations	No DST in 2011
Suriname	All locations	No DST in 2011
Swaziland	All locations	No DST in 2011
Sweden	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27END: Sunday, October 30
Switzerland	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27END: Sunday, October 30
Syria	All locations	START: Friday, April 1END: Friday, October 28

T, U

COUNTRY	REGION/STATES	DST START and END Dates
Taiwan	All locations	No DST in 2011
Tajikistan	All locations	No DST in 2011
Tanzania	All locations	No DST in 2011
Territorial Collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon	All locations	START: Sunday, March 13 END: Sunday, November 6
Territory of American Samoa	All locations	No DST in 2011
Territory of Cocos (Keeling)Islands	All locations	No DST in 2011
Territory of Guam	All locations	No DST in 2011
Thailand	All locations	No DST in 2011
The Bahamas	All locations	START: Sunday, March 13 END: Sunday, November 6
The Gambia	All locations	No DST in 2011
Togo	All locations	No DST in 2011
Tokelau	All locations	No DST in 2011
Tonga	All locations	No DST in 2011
Trinidad and Tobago	All locations	No DST in 2011
Tunisia	All locations	No DST in 2011
Turkey	All locations	START: Monday, March 28 END: Sunday, October 30
Turkmenistan	All locations	No DST in 2011
Turks and Caicos Islands	All locations	START: Sunday, March 13 END: Sunday, November 6
Tuvalu	All locations	No DST in 2011
Uganda	All locations	No DST in 2011
Ukraine	All locations	No DST in 2011
United Arab Emirates	All locations	No DST in 2011
United Kingdom	All locations	START: Sunday, March 27 END: Sunday, October 30
United States	Most locations (Ex. Washington, D.C.) Hawaii, Arizona, Midway Islands, Wake Island (Ex. Honolulu)	START: Sunday, March 13 END: Sunday, November 6 No DST in 2011
United States Virgin Islands	All locations	No DST in 2011
Uruguay	All locations	START: Sunday, October 2 END: Sunday, March 13
Uzbekistan	All locations	No DST in 2011

V, W, Y and Z

COUNTRY	REGION/STATES	DST START and END Dates
Vanuatu	All locations	No DST in 2011
Venezuela	All locations	No DST in 2011
Vietnam	All locations	No DST in 2011
Wallis und Futuna	All locations	No DST in 2011
West Bank	All locations	START: Friday, April 1* END: Friday, September 30*
Western Sahara	All locations	START: Sunday, April 3 END: Sunday, July 31
Yemen	All locations	No DST in 2011
Zambia	All locations	No DST in 2011
Zimbabwe	All locations	No DST in 2011

There are many oddities. For example, some parts of the U.S. and Canada do not observe Daylight Saving Time, such as the state of Arizona (U.S.) and the province Saskatchewan (Canada).

Observance can also be erratic. For example, Chile delayed its changeover date for the Pope's visit in 1987, as well as for a presidential inauguration in 1990.

Europe

In general, all countries in Europe except Belarus, Iceland, Russia and Ukraine observe DST, and most change on the same date and time, starting on the last Sunday in March and ending on the last Sunday in October.

Before 1996, DST ended on the last Sunday in September in most European countries; however in the United Kingdom and Ireland DST ended on the fourth (which some years is not the last) Sunday in October.

European Countries Without DST
These countries or regions do not use daylight saving time:

• Belarus, ended its last DST switching after moving the clocks forward in Spring 2011, and is now observing UTC + 03:00 all year round.

• Iceland, observing UTC all year round despite being at a longitude which would indicate UTC-1, the country may be thought of as being on continuous DST. Iceland's high latitude means that sunset and sunrise times change by many hours over the year, and the effect of changing the clock by one hour would, in comparison, be small.

• Russia, ended its last DST switching after moving the clocks forward in Spring 2011, and is now observing the time that formerly was DST, all year round. Many areas have its time two hours ahead of the mean solar time. Moscow has UTC + 04:00.

• Ukraine, ended its last DST switching after moving the clocks forward in Spring 2011, and is now observing UTC + 03:00 all year round.

Canada
In Canada, time is under provincial and territorial jurisdiction, not federal. Since at least the 1970s, all provinces and territories have matched their DST start and end dates to those used in the United States, and when the U.S. Congress changed the rules effective 2007 the provinces and territories (except Saskatchewan) changed their time legislation to match. Since 2007, DST in Canada starts on the second Sunday in March, and returns to standard time on the first Sunday of November, to coincide with the U.S. dates.  Most of Saskatchewan does not technically observe DST but rather observes a skewed 'standard time' that has been advanced one hour forward permanently (that is, observing what is sometimes known as 'year-round DST').


United States
Most areas of the United States currently observe daylight saving time. The exceptions are Arizona, Hawaii, and the territories of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. In Arizona, the Navajo Nation observes daylight saving time.
From 1987 to 2006, daylight saving time in the United States began on the first Sunday of April and ended on the last Sunday of October. The time is adjusted at 2:00 a.m. (02:00) local time.
By the Energy Policy Act of 2005, daylight saving time (DST) was extended in the United States beginning in 2007. DST currently starts on the second Sunday of March, which is three or four weeks earlier than in the past, and it ends on the first Sunday of November, one week later than in years past. The time is adjusted at 2:00 a.m. (02:00) local time. This change resulted in a new DST period that is four weeks (five in years when March has five Sundays) longer than in previous years.


Finally...
The practice has been both praised and criticized.  Adding daylight to afternoons benefits retailing, sports, and other activities that exploit sunlight after working hours, but causes problems for farming, evening entertainment and other occupations tied to the sun.  Its effect on health and crime is less clear. Although an early goal of DST was to reduce evening usage of incandescent lighting, formerly a primary use of electricity, modern heating and cooling usage patterns differ greatly, and research about how DST currently affects energy use is limited or contradictory.

DST clock shifts present other challenges. They complicate timekeeping, and can disrupt meetings, travel, billing, recordkeeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns.  Software can often adjust computer clocks automatically, but this can be limited and error-prone, particularly when DST protocols are changed.


Source(s):  wikipedia, timeanddate.com, webexhibits.org, wikipedia, nationalgeographic.com