Daylight saving time officially begins in North America on Sunday, March 9, 2025. People will be required to move their clocks forward by an hour. Meanwhile, in Europe, it begins on March 30, 2025. It then ends on Nov 2, 2025, in the US, and on Oct 26, 2025, in Europe and the UK. This is when you move your clock back by an hour. It can get pretty confusing. Here is a lowdown on the change in time.

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Daylight saving time first came into force during World War I in 1916 and it was essentially Germany's idea. It was a way to save fuel and it clicked later with the rest of Europe and then the US in 1918.

When does daylight saving time start?

DST starts in the US on the second Sunday in March. At 2 am, people move their clocks forward by an hour.

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Also Read: Daylight saving time: Why do some countries change their clock timings?

So while the time at that moment in your head is 2 am, it will now read 3 am. Similarly, when DST ends on the first Sunday in November, clocks are moved back an hour at 2 am. 

However, daylight saving time has not been always the same. The timing of the change in time and the days have differed over the years. According to the US Naval Observatory (USNO), several statutes have been passed over the years marking the changes. 

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Also Read: Trump pledges to scrap daylight saving time, citing inconvenience and costs 

The idea behind it is to make use of the extra daylight in the evening instead of using electricity. Benjamin Franklin,  ambassador to Paris in 1784, claims to have come up with the concept of using daylight. However, as per historical records, it was only during World War I that it was officially adopted.

DST was cancelled but made a comeback

After World War I ended, DST was also cancelled since farmers were not happy with losing an hour of morning sunlight.

This was despite President Woodrow Wilson advocating to make it permanent. However, on Feb 9, 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt once again brought daylight saving time for the entire year. It was known as "War Time" at the time since World War II was going on.

But things once again got hot after the war ended, as states could choose whether or not to follow DST. This caused chaos, leading to the Uniform Time Act which told all states that had adopted DST that it would begin on the first Sunday of April and end on the last Sunday of October.