Ramadan 2025: Fasting hours and iftar times around the world

The Muslim holy month of Ramadan has begun worldwide. For the next 29 or 30 days, Muslims observing the fast will refrain from eating and drinking from dawn to dusk, a period lasting from 12 to 16 hours, depending on their location.

Muslims believe Ramadan is the month when the first verses of the Quran were revealed to the Prophet Muhammad more than 1,400 years ago.

The fast entails abstinence from eating, drinking, smoking and sexual relations during daylight hours to achieve greater “taqwa”, or consciousness of God.

Why does Ramadan start on different dates every year?

Ramadan begins 10 to 12 days earlier each year. This is because the Islamic calendar is based on the lunar Hijri calendar with months that are 29 or 30 days long.

Because the lunar year is shorter than the solar year by 11 days, Ramadan will be observed twice in the year 2030 – first beginning on January 5 and then starting on December 26.

Fasting hours around the world

The number of daylight hours varies across the world.

Muslims living in the world’s southernmost countries, such as Chile or New Zealand, will fast for about 13 hours while those living in the northernmost countries, such as Iceland or Greenland, will have fasts lasting 16 hours or more on their longest days.

For Muslims living in the Northern Hemisphere, the number of fasting hours will be a bit shorter this year and will continue to decrease until 2031, which is the year Ramadan will encompass the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. After that, fasting hours will increase in the Northern Hemisphere until its summer solstice, the longest day of the year.

For fasting Muslims living south of the equator, the opposite will happen.