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The Ministry of Trade and Integration of Kazakhstan has come up with a project to amend the government decree regulating the calculation of time in the country. According to the draft document, Kazakhstan intends to apply the fifth time zone (UTC+05.00) uniformly throughout its territory, the press service of the ministry reported.

If approved, the transition will take place on March 1, 2024. In the cities of Astana, Almaty and Shymkent, as well as Abay, Akmola, Zhambyl, Zhetysu, Karaganda, Kostanay, Pavlodar, North Kazakhstan region, Turkestan, Ulytau and in the regions of Eastern Kazakhstan, local time will be turned back one hour.

Kazakhstan uses two time zones: UTC+05.00 and UTC+06.00. In most of the country, with the exception of the western regions, the UTC+06.00 time zone is used.

According to scientists, the current time zone UTC+06.00 does not correspond to natural solar time, which negatively affects biological rhythms and human health.

Scientific consensus confirms that to maintain health, it is best to use constant time zones that are as close as possible to solar time, and the transition to a single time zone UTC+05.00 throughout Kazakhstan seems to be the most optimal solution, supported by research institutes, expert chronobiologist Bolat Nurkhozhaev said.

Scientists estimate that 175 countries use a single time zone. Only 22 states use two or more time zones. There are currently 38 time zones in use around the world, as some regions are offset by only thirty or forty-five minutes.

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