Brazil does not change its clocks. Summer time, the horário de verão, was suspended by presidential decree on 25 April 2019, and the last one ended on 17 February 2019. For the summer of 2026 to 2027 the government again decided not to bring it back. Brasília, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro stay three hours behind Universal Time all year. The table will show a change only if a new decree is issued.

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Next clock change in Brazil

Local time in each place. Computed from the IANA time zone database.

What Summer Time Was

Brazil first tried summer time in 1931 and used it on and off for half a century. From 1985 it ran every year. Under the decree of 2008 it began on the third Sunday in October and ended on the third Sunday in February, moved by a week when that Sunday fell at Carnival; for its last season the start was put back to the first Sunday in November. It never applied to the whole country: only the South, the Southeast and the Centre-West, ten states and the Federal District, put their clocks forward. In the North and Northeast, close to the Equator, the length of the day hardly varies through the year and the change brought nothing. Bahia took part for a single summer, in 2011, and withdrew.

Why It Ended, and Why It Keeps Coming Up

The purpose was to shift the evening peak in electricity demand. By the late 2010s that peak had moved to mid-afternoon, driven by air conditioning, and the Ministry of Mines and Energy calculated that the saving was close to nil. Decree 9.772 of April 2019 ended it. The question has returned every year since, especially when reservoirs are low, because lighter evenings help bars, restaurants and tourism and can ease pressure on the grid at dusk. In 2024 the ministry studied a return and decided against it. For the summer of 2026 to 2027 it said again that the studies of the national grid operator did not justify the measure. A decree could reverse that in any year, so the answer is always valid for one season.

Four Time Zones Without a Change

Brazil has four legal times. Brasília time, three hours behind Universal Time, covers the capital, the whole coast and about nine tenths of the population. The Amazon zone, four hours behind, covers Amazonas, Roraima, Rondônia, Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul. Acre and the far west of Amazonas are five hours behind, and the islands of Fernando de Noronha are two hours behind. While summer time existed, the gaps between these zones changed with the season, since only some states moved: Cuiabá and Campo Grande changed, Manaus did not. Now the differences are fixed, and what changes is only the difference with countries that still move their clocks, such as Portugal, the United States and Chile.

Born in Brazil? Summer Time and the Birth Chart

For a birth chart, a Brazilian birth between October and February needs checking. If the birth was in a state that observed summer time that year, the clock was an hour ahead, and the dates varied: they were fixed by a new decree almost every year until 2008. A birth in São Paulo in January 1995 is on summer time; a birth in Recife on the same day is not, because the Northeast had left the scheme by then. Births after 17 February 2019 are never on summer time. That single hour is about fifteen degrees of Ascendant, and with it the Rising sign and the houses can change. Our natal chart calculator checks, state by state, whether the horário de verão applied on the day.

Frequently asked

Will Brazil have summer time in 2026 and 2027?

No. The government decided not to bring back summer time for the summer of 2026 to 2027. Clocks in Brazil have not changed since February 2019.

When did summer time end in Brazil?

The last summer time ended on 17 February 2019, and Decree 9.772 of 25 April 2019 suspended it for the following years.

Which Brazilian states used to change their clocks?

The states of the South, Southeast and Centre-West and the Federal District. The North and Northeast did not take part in the final years.

Clock changes by country