Time difference between Singapore and Toronto

The gap is not the same all year

Every converter gives one number for this pair. That number is right for most of the year and wrong for part of it, because Singapore does not change its clocks and Toronto goes forward on the second Sunday in March and back on the first Sunday in November.

Singapore stays put all year while Toronto moves, so the gap changes twice a year from Toronto's side alone. A recurring meeting set in Singapore's calendar will drift by an hour without anyone touching it.

About Singapore and Toronto

Singapore is UTC+8 despite sitting almost on the equator at a longitude that suggests UTC+7. It moved forward in 1982 to align with Malaysia and never moved back, so solar noon falls at about 1 PM.

Toronto keeps the same clock as New York and changes on the same dates, so the two cities are never apart. Canada follows the US daylight-saving schedule rather than the European one, which is why Toronto and London drift for the same weeks New York and London do.

What 12 hours actually costs you

There is no shared working hour at all. Nine to five in Singapore is 9:00 PM to 5:00 AM in Toronto. Somebody has to be outside their working day, and the only question is who — so the useful thing is to decide that once rather than rediscover it every time.

The least painful slot is 5:00 AM in Singapore, which is 5:00 PM in Toronto. That is 4 hours outside somebody's working day and it is the smallest that gap gets — every other hour of the clock costs more.

At 12 hours the two are far enough apart that the date stops matching. Midday in Singapore is 12:00 AM the same day in Toronto, but the ends of the working day do cross. "Tomorrow morning" means different things to the two of you, and a deadline given without a date attached will be missed by one side or the other.

When they can both be at their desks

Nine-to-five in Singapore and nine-to-five in Toronto do not overlap at all. With 12 hours between them, one side is always outside working hours, and the practical question is which side takes the early start or the late finish rather than when to meet.

Singapore

Toronto

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How far apart Singapore and Toronto are

The shortest path over the Earth's surface between the two is 15,001 km (9,321 miles). That is beyond the range of almost every airliner in service, so in practice this journey is made with at least one stop, and the time in the air alone comes to around 18 hours 35 minutes.

Over that distance you cross 12 hours of clock, which is where jet lag comes from: the body shifts by about an hour a day, so 12 hours takes most people 12 days or so to absorb. Flying west to Toronto is the easier direction — you gain the hours, and staying up later comes more naturally than going to bed early.

Singapore to Toronto, hour by hour

On the usual gap of 12 hours.

Frequently asked questions