Time change: When clocks go back one hour

Greece will return to winter time on Sunday, October 25, when clocks will be turned back by one hour.

At 4 a.m., clocks will be set back to 3 a.m., giving people an extra hour of sleep and marking the end of daylight saving time for the year.

The change follows the European Union’s current system for switching between summer and winter time. An official announcement regarding the implementation of the change is expected from Greece’s Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.

Why do clocks change?

The idea of changing the time to make better use of natural daylight dates back to 1784, when Benjamin Franklin suggested that adjusting daily schedules could help save energy.

The practice was widely introduced much later. During World War I, rising energy demands renewed interest in the idea, and Germany became the first country to introduce daylight saving time on a large scale in 1916.

Other countries, including Britain and the United States, subsequently adopted the practice to make better use of daylight and reduce energy consumption.

After World War I, several countries abandoned the measure, considering it no longer necessary. It was reintroduced during World War II in response to renewed energy needs.

When did Greece adopt the time change?

Greece first experimented with daylight saving time in 1932, but the measure was not maintained permanently.

The system was officially established in Greece in 1975, as the practice gained wider acceptance across Europe.

Since then, clocks have been changed twice a year: one hour forward in spring and one hour back in autumn, in accordance with the European system.