How Much Daylight Do Big Cities Get in Winter? 29 Cities Compared
On the shortest day of the year, December 21, 2026, St. Petersburg gets just 6 hours of daylight, London gets 7 hours 54 minutes, New York gets 9 hours 18 minutes and Singapore gets just over 12 hours. We calculated sunrise and sunset for the biggest cities in the world to see who gets the least light in winter, and who gets the most in summer.
Key facts
- Among cities with more than a million people, St. Petersburg has the shortest winter day: 6 hours.
- Near the equator, day length barely changes. Singapore’s longest and shortest days differ by less than 10 minutes.
- London’s longest day (16 h 43 min) is more than twice as long as its shortest (7 h 54 min).
- In the Southern Hemisphere it’s the other way round: Sydney’s longest day is in December.
Daylight on the shortest and longest days
| City | Daylight on Dec 21, 2026 | Sunrise | Sunset | Daylight on June 21, 2027 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Petersburg | 6 h 00 min | 9:56 AM | 3:56 PM | 18 h 58 min |
| Stockholm | 6 h 11 min | 8:40 AM | 2:51 PM | 18 h 44 min |
| Moscow | 7 h 05 min | 8:54 AM | 4:00 PM | 17 h 39 min |
| Berlin | 7 h 43 min | 8:12 AM | 3:56 PM | 16 h 55 min |
| London | 7 h 54 min | 8:01 AM | 3:55 PM | 16 h 43 min |
| Calgary | 7 h 58 min | 9:35 AM | 5:33 PM | 16 h 38 min |
| Vancouver | 8 h 15 min | 9:03 AM | 5:18 PM | 16 h 19 min |
| Paris | 8 h 19 min | 8:39 AM | 4:58 PM | 16 h 15 min |
| Seattle | 8 h 29 min | 7:52 AM | 4:22 PM | 16 h 03 min |
| Montréal | 8 h 46 min | 7:29 AM | 4:15 PM | 15 h 45 min |
| Toronto | 8 h 59 min | 7:46 AM | 4:45 PM | 15 h 31 min |
| Chicago | 9 h 11 min | 7:13 AM | 4:24 PM | 15 h 17 min |
| New York | 9 h 18 min | 7:15 AM | 4:33 PM | 15 h 09 min |
| Madrid | 9 h 20 min | 8:32 AM | 5:52 PM | 15 h 07 min |
| Beijing | 9 h 23 min | 7:30 AM | 4:53 PM | 15 h 04 min |
| Tokyo | 9 h 47 min | 6:45 AM | 4:32 PM | 14 h 38 min |
| Los Angeles | 9 h 56 min | 6:52 AM | 4:49 PM | 14 h 28 min |
| Cairo | 10 h 15 min | 6:45 AM | 5:00 PM | 14 h 08 min |
| Delhi | 10 h 22 min | 7:08 AM | 5:29 PM | 14 h 01 min |
| Dubai | 10 h 37 min | 6:58 AM | 5:35 PM | 13 h 45 min |
| Mexico City | 11 h 00 min | 7:04 AM | 6:04 PM | 13 h 20 min |
| Mumbai | 11 h 02 min | 7:05 AM | 6:07 PM | 13 h 19 min |
| Manila | 11 h 18 min | 6:14 AM | 5:33 PM | 13 h 02 min |
| Lagos | 11 h 47 min | 6:50 AM | 6:38 PM | 12 h 32 min |
| Singapore | 12 h 05 min | 6:59 AM | 7:05 PM | 12 h 14 min |
| Johannesburg | 13 h 49 min | 5:11 AM | 7:00 PM | 10 h 32 min |
| Sydney | 14 h 28 min | 5:39 AM | 8:06 PM | 9 h 56 min |
| Buenos Aires | 14 h 32 min | 5:35 AM | 8:07 PM | 9 h 53 min |
| Melbourne | 14 h 50 min | 5:52 AM | 8:43 PM | 9 h 35 min |
Times are local. For the Southern Hemisphere cities (Johannesburg, Sydney, Buenos Aires and Melbourne), December 21 is their longest day and June 21 their shortest.
Latitude decides the length of the day
The further a city is from the equator, the bigger the gap between summer and winter. St. Petersburg, at almost 60° north, gets nearly 13 hours more daylight in June than in December. London, at 51.5° north, has a difference of almost 9 hours. New York, at 41° north, about 6 hours. And Singapore, just 1° north of the equator, gets about 12 hours of daylight every day of the year.
That’s why daylight saving time is popular in places like Europe and Canada and almost unknown near the equator. See which countries still change their clocks.
Why sunrise times look so different
Day length depends on latitude, but the clock time of sunrise and sunset depends on where a city sits in its time zone, and on whether it uses daylight saving time.
- Madrid has a similar day length to New York, but its sun rises at 8:32 AM and sets at 5:52 PM in December. Spain uses Central European Time, even though most of it lies west of the Greenwich meridian, like the UK.
- Calgary and Vancouver now have some of the latest winter sunrises of any big city: 9:35 AM and 9:03 AM. That’s because Alberta and British Columbia stopped turning their clocks back in 2026. Their sunsets are an hour later instead. See the earliest winter sunsets in major cities.
- Stockholm has a slightly longer day than St. Petersburg, but its sunset is more than an hour earlier, at 2:51 PM, because of where it sits in its time zone.
How we calculated this
We calculated sunrise and sunset for each city’s coordinates using the same astronomical formulas as the sunrise and sunset times on our world clock and city pages, with the standard allowance for atmospheric refraction. Local times use the official IANA time zone database (version 2026e). Day length is the time from sunrise to sunset. Your own sunrise may differ by a minute or two depending on hills, buildings and your exact location.
Frequently asked questions
Which big city has the shortest day in winter?
Among cities with more than a million people, St. Petersburg, Russia, with about 6 hours of daylight on December 21. Stockholm is close behind with about 6 hours 11 minutes.
When is the shortest day of the year in 2026?
December 21, 2026 in the Northern Hemisphere. That’s when the winter solstice happens, at 20:50 UTC.
Do days get longer right after December 21?
Yes, but slowly at first. Sunsets start getting later in early to mid December, while sunrises keep getting later until early January.
How much daylight is there today where I am?
Look up your city on our world clock. Every city page shows today’s sunrise, sunset and hours of daylight, like this one for London.
