Date Format by Country 2024

It is important for people to know what day it is, particularly when they travel overseas. That way, they do not get lost, end up in the wrong place, or miss a train or a plane. Unfortunately, it can be difficult for people to tell what date it is depending on the format that is used. There are several different date formats that countries use across the world, and people need to know what format is being used. Some people use a format that goes: day, then month, then year. There are other countries that use the format: year, then month, then day. There are even countries that use the format: month, then day, then year. Which countries use which format?

The United States Tend To Be an Outlier

Even though the United States is one of the largest countries on Earth, its date format is somewhat unusual compared to many other nations. In the United States, the date format follows the month-day-year sequence, meaning 1/10/2022 is read as January 10th, 2022. This format is consistent across all of the United States, and many of its island territories also adopt this convention. However, the U.S. is not the only country using this format; it is also used in countries like the Philippines and some in the Caribbean and Central America. When visiting U.S. territories or other regions using different date formats, it is important for visitors to seek clarification to ensure they understand the correct date, as variations can occur due to local influences and historical ties.

Most of the World Uses the Day, Month, Year Format

The vast majority of the world uses the format: day, then month, then year. Using the example above, 1/10/2022 would stand for the 1st of October, 2022. Clearly, this is very different than what it would mean in the United States. Just about every country in Europe uses this format. This includes the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Poland, Italy, the Netherlands, and numerous other countries. The vast majority of countries in South America also use this format. This includes Peru, Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela. Countries in Western Asia also follow this format. This includes Turkey, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and numerous other countries in the Middle East.

What Is the Most Common Date Format Used in Asia?

The other common date format that people will see is the year, then month, then day. For example, January 10th, 2022 would be written as 2022-01-10 in Asia. Most of the biggest countries in Asia use this date format. This includes China, Japan, and South Korea. In addition, this format will be seen in a few scattered countries in Central Asia, including Nepal, Sri Lanka, and a few others. This is the date format that is hardest to confuse because the year is written first; however, if the year is only represented by two numbers, it may be possible for people to get confused. The most important thing for people to remember when they are traveling is that they need to ask for clarification if something is unclear.

Abbreviations: d = day, m = month, and y = year
Common separator marks include dashes (-), forward slashes (/) and periods (.)
Parenthesis indicate multiple accepted variations. For example, dd.mm.(yy)yy means both dd.mm.yy and dd.mm.yyyy are acceptable.
Capital letters represent the general order in which day, month, and year are shown. Ex: YMD = year, month, day.
Knowledge of date orders helps prevent misunderstandings. For example, 02-06-12 means February 06, 2012 in MDY; June 02, 2012 in DMY; and June 12, 2002 in YMD.
Lower-case letters represent the precise formula in use.
A single letter indicates single-digits when possible, but double-digits otherwise. Ex: d-m-yy = 1-1-24, but also 10-31-24
Two letters indicates a two-digit numerical abbreviation. Ex: mm-yy = 01-24
Three letters indicate a three-letter written abbreviation. Ex: mmm-yyyy = Jan-2024
Four letters indicate a four-digit year or the full name of the day or month. Ex: dddd mmmm yyyy = Monday 01 January 2024

233 countries

Country	Date Format YMD	Date Format DMY	Date Format MDY	Common Usage
Afghanistan	Yes	Yes	No	Short format: d/m/yyyy (read right to left) \| Long format: yyyy mmmm d (read right to left)
Albania	Yes	Yes	No	dd/mm/yyyy \| Occasionally YMD
Algeria	No	Yes	No	dd/mm/yyyy
American Samoa	No	No	Yes	mm/dd/yy
Andorra	No	Yes	No
Angola	No	Yes	No
Anguilla	No	Yes	No
Antigua and Barbuda	No	Yes	No
Argentina	Sometimes	Yes	No	Numeric format: yyyymmdd \| Short format: dd/mm/yy \| Medium format: dd/mm/yyyy \| Long format: d' de 'mmmm' de 'yyyy (Example: 10 de agusto de 2023) \| Full format: dddd d' de 'mmmm' de 'yyyy (Example: jueves 10 de agusto de 2023)
Armenia	No	Yes	No	dd.mm.yyyy
Aruba	No	Yes	No
Australia	Yes	Yes	No	mmmm d, yyyy is sometimes used informally in the media. \| yyyy-mm-dd (ISO 8601 date format) is recommended for government publications.
Austria	Yes	Yes	No	d.m.(yy)yy or sometimes d. month (yy)yy)
Azerbaijan	No	Yes	No	dd.mm.yyyy
Bahamas	No	Yes	No
Bahrain	No	Yes	No
Bangladesh	No	Yes	No	Not officially standardised. Bengali calendar dates are also used.
Barbados	No	Yes	No
Belarus	No	Yes	No	dd.mm.yyyy
Belgium	No	Yes	No	dd/mm/yyyy or dd.mm.yyyy
Belize	No	Yes	No
Benin	No	Yes	No
Bermuda	No	Yes	No
Bhutan	Yes	No	No
Bolivia	No	Yes	No
Bosnia and Herzegovina	No	Yes	No	d. m. yyyy. or d. mmmm yyyy
Botswana	Yes	Yes	No	Setswana: yyyy-mm-dd \| English: dd/mm/yyyy
Brazil	No	Yes	No	dd/mm/yyyy
British Virgin Islands	No	Yes	No
Brunei	No	Yes	No
Bulgaria	No	Yes	No	dd.mm.yyyy
Burkina Faso	No	Yes	No
Burundi	No	Yes	No
Cambodia	No	Yes	No	Short format: dd/mm/yy \| Long format: d mmmm yyyy
Cameroon	Yes	Yes	No	(d)d/(m)m/yyyy or d mmmm yyyy for most langauges \| yyyy-mm-dd for Meta' and Ngomba
Canada	Yes	Yes	Yes	yyyy-mm-dd (ISO 8601) is officially recommended by the Government of Canada and Standards Council of Canada. \| MDY (mmmm-dd-yyyy) is used by many English-language publications, media products, and government documents. \| DMY (dd-mmmm-yyyy) is used by many French- and English-language formal letters, academic papers, media, and military and government documents, particularly those written in French. \| Shelf-life dates on perishable goods may follow different formats.
Cape Verde	No	Yes	No
Cayman Islands	No	Yes	Yes	DMY and MDY are used interchangeably, with month often spelled out to avoid confusion. Official forms generally tend towards DMY.
Central African Republic	No	Yes	No
Chad	No	Yes	No
Chile	No	Yes	No	DMY, most commonly d/mmmm/yyyy or dd/mm/yy.
China	Yes	No	No	National standards are yyyy-mm-dd and yyyy年mm月dd日 or yy年m月d日. \| Uyghur may use yyyy-d-mmm. \| Casually, many people use yyyy/mm/dd or yy.m.d (with / or . as separators)
Colombia	No	Yes	No
Comoros	No	Yes	No
Cook Islands	No	Yes	No
Costa Rica	No	Yes	No
Croatia	No	Yes	No	d. m. yyyy. or d. mmmm yyyy
Cuba	Yes	Yes	No
Curacao	No	Yes	No
Cyprus	No	Yes	No	dd/mm/yyyy
Czech Republic	Yes	Yes	No	d. m. yyyy or d. month yyyy
Denmark	Yes	Yes	No	dd.mm.(yy)yy is the traditional Danish date format. \| yyyy-mm-dd and yyyymmdd are accepted, but less common. \| d. mmmm. yyyy and (when handwritten) d/m-yy or d/m yyyy are also accepted.
Djibouti	Yes	Yes	No	In Afar, French and Somali: \| Short: dd/mm/yyyy or d/m/yy \| Long: d mmmm yyyy or mmmm dd, yyyy \| In Arabic (read right to left): \| Short: yyyy/m/d \| Long: yyyy mmmm d
Dominica	No	Yes	No
Dominican Republic	No	Yes	No
DR Congo	No	Yes	No
Ecuador	No	Yes	No
Egypt	No	Yes	No
El Salvador	No	Yes	No
Equatorial Guinea	No	Yes	No	dd/mm/yyyy or d mmmm yyyy
Eritrea	Yes	Yes	Sometimes	In Bilen, English, Tigre and Tigrinya: \| dd/mm/yyyy or d mmmm yyyy \| In Arabic (read right to left): \| yyyy/m/d or yyyy mmmm d In Afar & Saho: \| dd/mm/yyyy or mmmm dd, yyyy
Estonia	Sometimes	Yes	No	dd.mm.yyyy, d.m.(yy)yy or d. mmmm yyyy, with yyyy-mm-dd preferred for formal or international uses.
Eswatini	Yes	Yes	No	YMD (in Swati), DMY (in English)
Ethiopia	No	Yes	Sometimes	In Amharic, Tigrinya and Wolaytta: \| dd/mm/yyyy or dd mmmm yyyy \| In Afar, Oromo and Somali: \| dd/mm/yyyy or mmmm dd, yyyy
Falkland Islands	No	Yes	No
Faroe Islands	No	Yes	No
Fiji	No	Yes	No
Finland	No	Yes	Sometimes	Finnish: d.m.yyyy or d. mmmm yyyy \| Inari Sami: mmmm d. p. yyyy \| Northern Sami: mmmm d. b. yyyy \| Skolt Sami: mmmm d. p. yyyy \| Swedish: \| d mmmm yyyy \| (Note: Month and year may be shortened)
France	Yes	Yes	No	Alsatian, Catalan, Corsican, French and Occitan: dd/mm/yyyy \| Breton, Basque, and Interlingua: yyyy-mm-dd
French Guiana	No	Yes	No
French Polynesia	No	Yes	No
Gabon	No	Yes	No
Gambia	No	Yes	No
Georgia	No	Yes	No	dd.mm.yyyy or dd-mm-yy
Germany	Yes	Yes	No	Traditional: dd.mm.yyyy \| Official: yyyy-mm-dd or d.mmmm yyyy \| Occasional: (d)d.(m)m.(yy)yy
Ghana	Yes	Yes	Yes	dd/mm/yyyy \| In Akan: yyyy/mm/dd \| In Ewe: m/d/yyyy
Gibraltar	No	Yes	No
Greece	No	Yes	No
Greenland	No	Yes	Yes	d. mmmm yyyy or (less common) mmmm d.-at, yyyy
Grenada	No	Yes	No
Guadeloupe	No	Yes	No
Guam	No	No	Yes
Guatemala	No	Yes	No	Short format: dd/mm/yyyy \| Long format: d de mmmm de yyyy or dddd, d de mmmm de yyyy
Guernsey	No	Yes	No
Guinea	Yes	Yes	Sometimes	In French and Fulah: \| dd/mm/yyyy or d mmmm yyyy \| In N'ko (read right-to-left): \| yyyy/mm/dd or yyyy, dd mmmm
Guinea Bissau	No	Yes	No
Guyana	No	Yes	No
Haiti	No	Yes	No
Honduras	No	Yes	No
Hong Kong	Yes	Yes	Rarely	Chinese: (yy)yy年(m)m月(d)d日 \| British English: (d)d/(m)m/(yy)yy or d mmmm yyyy. Both dd-mmmm-yyyy and mmmm-dd-yyyy are also seen, with the latter more common in media.
Hungary	Yes	No	No	yyyy. mm. (d)d. or yyyy. mmmm. dd. Month may be indicated by Roman numerals, though year and day are always Arabic numerals.
Iceland	No	Yes	No	dd.mm.yyyy
India	Yes	Yes	Sometimes	dd-mm-yyyy or yyyy-mm-dd. However, Bodo language favors mm/dd/yyyy and English-language media favor mmmm dd, yyyy.
Indonesia	No	Yes	Rarely	MDY or DMY (gov't and academic media)
Iran	Yes	Yes	No	Persian calendar: yyyy/mm/dd or yy/m/d \| Gregorian: dd/mm/yyyy \| May be written yyyy mmmm d for right-to-left reading systems.
Iraq	No	Yes	No	dd/mm/yyyy
Ireland	No	Yes	No	dd-mm-yyyy or dd/mm/yyyy
Isle of Man	No	Yes	No
Israel	No	Yes	No	dd.mm.yyyy or dd/mm/yyyy
Italy	No	Yes	No	dd/mm/yyyy
Ivory Coast	No	Yes	No
Jamaica	Yes	Yes	No
Japan	Yes	No	No	Often in the form yyyy年mm月dd日 \| May use Japanese era year.
Jersey	No	Yes	No
Jordan	No	Yes	No
Kazakhstan	Sometimes	Yes	No	Kazakh: \| yyyy.dd.mm or yyyy 'ж'. d mmmm \| Russian: \| dd.mm.(yy)yy or d mmmm yyyy
Kenya	Yes	Yes	Yes	yy/mm/dd or dd/mm/yyyy \| In Swahili: m/d/yyyy
Kiribati	No	Yes	No
Kuwait	No	Yes	No
Kyrgyzstan	No	Yes	No	dd.mm.yyyy
Laos	No	Yes	No
Latvia	No	Yes	No	dd.mm.yyyy or yyyy. d. mmmm
Lebanon	No	Yes	No
Lesotho	Yes	Yes	No	Sesotho: yyyy-mm-dd \| English: dd/mm/yyyy
Liberia	No	Yes	No
Libya	No	Yes	No
Liechtenstein	No	Yes	No	dd.mm.yyyy
Lithuania	Yes	No	No	yyyy-mm-dd or yyyy <m.> <month in genitive> d <d.>
Luxembourg	No	Yes	No	dd.mm.yyyy
Macau	Yes	Yes	No	Chinese: YMD (年月日）\| Portuguese and British English: DMY
Madagascar	No	Yes	No
Malawi	No	Yes	No
Malaysia	No	Yes	No	dd-mm-yyyy
Maldives	Yes	Yes	No	yy/mm/dd or dd mmmm yyyy
Mali	No	Yes	No
Malta	No	Yes	No
Marshall Islands	No	No	Yes
Martinique	No	Yes	No
Mauritania	No	Yes	No
Mauritius	No	Yes	No
Mayotte	No	Yes	No
Mexico	No	Yes	No
Micronesia	No	No	Yes
Moldova	No	Yes	No
Monaco	No	Yes	No
Mongolia	Yes	No	No	yyyy-mm-dd or yyyy оны (m)m сарын (d)d. \| Casual use: yyyy/(m)m/(d)d or yyyy.(m)m.(d)d
Montenegro	No	Yes	No	d.m.yyyy. or dd.mm.yyyy
Montserrat	No	Yes	No
Morocco	No	Yes	No
Mozambique	No	Yes	No
Myanmar	Yes	Yes	No	YMD (Burmese calendar) or DMY (Gregorian calendar)
Namibia	Yes	Yes	No	DMY
Nauru	No	Yes	No
Nepal	Yes	Yes	Sometimes	YMD in Nepali calendar, MDY common in English-language media.
Netherlands	No	Yes	No	dd-mm-yyyy
New Caledonia	No	Yes	No
New Zealand	No	Yes	No
Nicaragua	No	Yes	No
Niger	No	Yes	No
Nigeria	No	Yes	Sometimes	English, Hausa, Igbo: (d)d/(m)m/(yy)yy or d mmmm yyyy \| Edo, Fulani, Ibibio, Kanuri and Yoruba: mmmm dd, yyyy
Niue	No	Yes	No	dd/mm/yyyy
North Korea	Yes	No	No
North Macedonia	No	Yes	No	dd.mm.yyyy
Northern Mariana Islands	No	No	Yes
Norway	Yes	Yes	Rarely	dd.mm.yyyy or d.mm.yy. yyyy-mm-dd may be used for technical purposes, and d/m-y is widely accepted shorthand.
Oman	No	Yes	No
Pakistan	No	Yes	No
Palau	No	Yes	Rarely	English: (m)m/(d)d/(yy)yy \| Japanese: (yy)yy/m(m)/(d)d
Palestine	No	Yes	No	dd/mm/yyyy
Panama	No	Yes	Yes	mm/dd/yyyy or d de mmmm de yyyy
Papua New Guinea	No	Yes	No
Paraguay	No	Yes	No
Peru	No	Yes	No
Philippines	No	Yes	Yes	English: mmmm d, yyyy or DMY (govt and official docs) \| Filipino: ika-d ng mmmm, yyyy or mmmm d, yyyyc \| Both: mm/dd/yyyy
Poland	Yes	Yes	No	Traditional: dd/mm/yyyy. May be d <month in genitive> yyyy or d <month in Roman numerals> yyyy) \| Official: YYYY-MM-DD (ISO 8601)
Portugal	Yes	Yes	No	dd/mm/yyyy or dd-mm-yyyy, with yyyy-mm-dd rising in frequency
Puerto Rico	No	Yes	Yes	English: mmmm d, yyyy \| Spanish: d de mmmm de yyyy
Qatar	No	Yes	No
Republic of the Congo	No	Yes	No
Reunion	No	Yes	No
Romania	No	Yes	No	dd.mm.yyyy or (d)d-mmm-yyyy or (d)d-month as Roman numeral-yyyy
Russia	Yes	Yes	No	yyyy-mm-dd, dd.mm.(yy)yy, or (most official) d <month in genitive> yyyy
Rwanda	Yes	Yes	No	Kinyarwanda: yyyy/mm/dd or yyyy mmmm dd \| English and French: dd/mm/yyyy or d mmmm yyyy
Saint Barthelemy	No	Yes	No
Saint Kitts and Nevis	No	Yes	No
Saint Lucia	No	Yes	No
Saint Martin	No	Yes	No
Saint Pierre and Miquelon	No	Yes	No
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	No	Yes	No
Samoa	No	Yes	No
San Marino	No	Yes	No
Sao Tome and Principe	No	Yes	No
Saudi Arabia	No	Yes	No	dd/mm/yyyy
Senegal	No	Yes	No
Serbia	No	Yes	No	d.m.yyyy. or d. mmmm yyyy
Seychelles	No	Yes	No
Sierra Leone	No	Yes	No
Singapore	Yes	Yes	Sometimes	Chinese: yyyy年m月d日 \| English, Malay, Tamil: DMY \| Alternate: MDY (esp. media and governmental websites
Sint Maarten	No	Yes	No
Slovakia	No	Yes	No	d. m. yyyy
Slovenia	No	Yes	No	d. m. yyyy or d. mmmm yyyy
Solomon Islands	No	Yes	No
Somalia	No	Yes	No	dd/mm/yyyy
South Africa	Yes	Yes	Sometimes	English: yyyy/mm/dd or dd mmmm yyyy \| Afrikaans: yyyy-mm-dd or dd mmmm yyyy \| Xhosa: yyyy-mm-dd or yyyy mmmm d \| Zulu: MDY
South Korea	Yes	No	No	Standard: yyyy-mm-dd or (yy)yy년 (m)m월 (d)d일 \| Casual: (yy)yy.(m)m.(d)d.
South Sudan	No	Yes	No
Spain	Yes	Yes	No	Asturian, Catalan, Galician, Spanish and Valencian: dd/mm/yyyy \| Basque: yyyy/mm/dd
Sri Lanka	Yes	Yes	Rarely	Sinhala: yyyy-mm-dd \| Tamil: d-m-yyyy \| English: MDY (media) or DMY (govt. and official)
Sudan	No	Yes	No
Suriname	No	Yes	No
Sweden	Yes	Yes	No	Standard: yyyy-mm-dd, with dd.mm.yyyy occasionally required by EU. \| Alternates: d/m (casual), d mmmm yyyy or den d mmmm yyyy
Switzerland	No	Yes	No	dd.mm.yyyy or d. mmmm yyyy
Syria	No	Yes	No
Taiwan	Yes	No	No	yyyy/(m)m/(d)d or yyyy-mm-dd or yyyy年m月d日
Tajikistan	No	Yes	No	dd.mm.yyyy
Tanzania	No	Yes	No
Thailand	No	Yes	No	dd/mm/yyyy. May use Buddhist Era years instead of CE years.
Timor Leste	No	Yes	No
Togo	No	Yes	Yes	French: dd/mm/yyyy \| Ewe: mm/dd/(yy)yy
Tokelau	No	Yes	No
Tonga	No	Yes	No
Trinidad and Tobago	No	Yes	No
Tunisia	No	Yes	No
Turkey	No	Yes	No	dd.mm.yyyy or d mmmm yyyy or dddd mmmm d, yyyy (Ex: Friday, June 9, 2023)
Turkmenistan	No	Yes	No	dd.mm.(yy)yy ý. or yyyy-nji ýylyň d-nji mmmm
Turks and Caicos Islands	No	Yes	No
Tuvalu	No	Yes	No
Uganda	No	Yes	No
Ukraine	No	Yes	No	dd.mm.(yy)yy or dd/mm/yyyy
United Arab Emirates	No	Yes	No
United Kingdom	Yes	Yes	No	dd/mm/yyyy. Media may use dddd mmmm d, yyyy (Ex: Friday, June 9, 2023) \| Use of YMD with yyyy year is rising, particularly in technical applications.
United States	Yes	Rarely	Yes	Civilian: m/d/yy or m/d/yyyy \| Military, academic, govt. and other technical: d mmm(m) yyyy or yyyy-mm-dd
United States Virgin Islands	No	No	Yes
Uruguay	No	Yes	No
Uzbekistan	Yes	Yes	No	Cyrillic: dd.mm.yyyy; Latin: dd/mm yyyy
Vanuatu	No	Yes	No
Vatican City	No	No	Yes
Venezuela	No	Yes	No
Vietnam	Yes	Yes	Sometimes	Vietnamese:\| Long: Ngày (d)d tháng (m)m năm yyyy or ngày (d)d tháng (month in textform) năm yyyy \| Short: (d)d/(m)m/yyyy separated by /, -, or \| English: \| yyyy-mm-dd, mmmm d, yyyy, or (historical): era names năm thứ _ tháng [m]m (or in textform) ngày(mồng) [d]d (or in textform).
Wallis and Futuna	No	Yes	No
Yemen	No	Yes	No
Zambia	No	Yes	No
Zimbabwe	Yes	No	No

What countries use the date format mm dd yy?

Nations that use the date format mdy include the United States and its territories, Vatican City, the Philippines, Kenya, Canada, Panama, Ghana, Togo, Puerto Rico, Micronesia, and Greenland.

Frequently Asked Questions