Which nation has the most time zones?

Russia has 11 time zones, although if you exclude the Kaliningrad enclave, which is separate from the contiguous Russian landmass, it comes down to 10 time zones. That's four more than the US and Canada, and seven more than Australia based on Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Although all three of these countries have a wide longitudinal spread, they are dwarfed by Russia, which measures more than 10,000 kilometres from east to west and covers slightly more than 142 degrees of longitude, or more than one-third of our planet's circumference. Australia is less than half as wide, at almost 4000 kilometres from east to west, according to Geoscience Australia.

By contrast, although it measures more than 3500 kilometres from east to west, China has only one time zone – Beijing Standard Time. When it's 8am in Beijing, in the country's east, it's also 8am in Kashgar, in the far west. Since Kashgar is almost 4000 kilometres to the west, on December 31 the sun won't rise there until 10.14am, while in Beijing on the same day the sun wakes up at 7.35am.