Ibragim Satvaldy | 07.06.2024
How has Kazakhstan’s time zone change affected people ?
At the end of January, Alikhan Smailov, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan, signed a resolution on moving the local time back one hour, from GMT+6 to GMT+5, which came into force on the 1st of March, 2024. The effect of this is that Kazakhstan now has only one geographical time zone rather than two.
The main motivation cited for making this change is the potential boost to economic efficiency by synchronising working hours with economic partners and improving international relations. In addition, Daulet Aldyngurov, director of the Health Ministry’s Science and Human Resources Department, claimed that the other reason is the improvements to the health of the nation. “It is therefore necessary to synchronise the natural rhythms of the population.”
However, many experts claim that things may not go as planned. According to economist Arman Baiganov, switching to another time zone could cause inconvenience for ordinary citizens. He believes that “For residents of eastern Kazakhstan it will get light very early in summer and it will get dark early in winter, and it is unknown how this will affect their health,”. “And in agriculture: cows don’t know that the time has been changed by an hour, and they won’t adjust. How much will this affect the productivity of farm animals? Although in the economy of Kazakhstan the agro-industrial sector is only 5% of GDP, the industry must still be taken into account.” According to Arman Baiganov, “ideally there should be three time zones.”
When it comes to impact on health, the population specialist, Aida Alzhanova, claims that the change in time zone will negatively affect people. “The amount of melatonin produced depends on the amount of time from sunset to bedtime. This is one of the important hormones that gives psychological and neurological stability, promotes good health, and even prevents ageing. Due to the fact that bedtime moves to a later hour, the production of melatonin may fail, which leads to various diseases - metabolic and cardiovascular."-said the expert.
As people from Eastern Kazakhstan will have to get up early, the factor of sunrise might damage their health. “For example, in Ust-Kamenogorsk, dawn will occur at 3-4 o’clock in the morning in the summer. In Shymkent, the heat will begin earlier, which means that residents will go to work in the heat.”- said Aida Alzhanova.
In Aida Alzhanova’s opinion, there needs to be a regulation of the start of the working day or school . “For instance, in southern Kazakhstan, classes begin at seven in the morning. Civil servants can also go to work at different times in order to synchronise the working day: some from 8, others from 9, others from 10.”
According to the Department of Energy, a significant difference in electricity consumption is not expected, despite the earlier turn on of the lights due to the change back an hour. The Energy Minister, Almasadam Satkaliev said “there was a slight increase in electricity consumption, less than hundredths of a percent of total consumption,”.
The average bill for vital electricity consumption as of April 1, 2024 was about 17,000 tenge. The time change will significantly increase these costs, especially in the autumn-winter period as the duration of darkness will increase, forcing them to switch on the lights earlier and for a longer period of time. That’s why people started signing a petition for “returning time” which appeared on the state website, Epetition.kz. In only a month and a half, 45,644 people signed it. “In order for the petition to be accepted, you need to get 50 thousand votes. If the petition gets the required number of votes, then, in due course, we will consider it unambiguously ”- said the Minister of Trade and Integration, Arman Shakkaliyev. Up to this point, over 46 thousand people signed the petition.
As of now, it is difficult to tell whether the time zone change benefited Kazakhstan or not, since the consequences of “time travel” are yet to be seen. However, it seems like Kazakhstan may face some difficulties in the upcoming future. For Instance, the time difference between them and one of their main economic partners, China, is now 3 hours, despite being neighbours which could lead to problems with transporting goods. Therefore, Kazakhstan could fail to achieve their 2 main goals: improved economic efficiency and well-being of citizens.
The main motivation cited for making this change is the potential boost to economic efficiency by synchronising working hours with economic partners and improving international relations. In addition, Daulet Aldyngurov, director of the Health Ministry’s Science and Human Resources Department, claimed that the other reason is the improvements to the health of the nation. “It is therefore necessary to synchronise the natural rhythms of the population.”
However, many experts claim that things may not go as planned. According to economist Arman Baiganov, switching to another time zone could cause inconvenience for ordinary citizens. He believes that “For residents of eastern Kazakhstan it will get light very early in summer and it will get dark early in winter, and it is unknown how this will affect their health,”. “And in agriculture: cows don’t know that the time has been changed by an hour, and they won’t adjust. How much will this affect the productivity of farm animals? Although in the economy of Kazakhstan the agro-industrial sector is only 5% of GDP, the industry must still be taken into account.” According to Arman Baiganov, “ideally there should be three time zones.”
When it comes to impact on health, the population specialist, Aida Alzhanova, claims that the change in time zone will negatively affect people. “The amount of melatonin produced depends on the amount of time from sunset to bedtime. This is one of the important hormones that gives psychological and neurological stability, promotes good health, and even prevents ageing. Due to the fact that bedtime moves to a later hour, the production of melatonin may fail, which leads to various diseases - metabolic and cardiovascular."-said the expert.
As people from Eastern Kazakhstan will have to get up early, the factor of sunrise might damage their health. “For example, in Ust-Kamenogorsk, dawn will occur at 3-4 o’clock in the morning in the summer. In Shymkent, the heat will begin earlier, which means that residents will go to work in the heat.”- said Aida Alzhanova.
In Aida Alzhanova’s opinion, there needs to be a regulation of the start of the working day or school . “For instance, in southern Kazakhstan, classes begin at seven in the morning. Civil servants can also go to work at different times in order to synchronise the working day: some from 8, others from 9, others from 10.”
According to the Department of Energy, a significant difference in electricity consumption is not expected, despite the earlier turn on of the lights due to the change back an hour. The Energy Minister, Almasadam Satkaliev said “there was a slight increase in electricity consumption, less than hundredths of a percent of total consumption,”.
The average bill for vital electricity consumption as of April 1, 2024 was about 17,000 tenge. The time change will significantly increase these costs, especially in the autumn-winter period as the duration of darkness will increase, forcing them to switch on the lights earlier and for a longer period of time. That’s why people started signing a petition for “returning time” which appeared on the state website, Epetition.kz. In only a month and a half, 45,644 people signed it. “In order for the petition to be accepted, you need to get 50 thousand votes. If the petition gets the required number of votes, then, in due course, we will consider it unambiguously ”- said the Minister of Trade and Integration, Arman Shakkaliyev. Up to this point, over 46 thousand people signed the petition.
As of now, it is difficult to tell whether the time zone change benefited Kazakhstan or not, since the consequences of “time travel” are yet to be seen. However, it seems like Kazakhstan may face some difficulties in the upcoming future. For Instance, the time difference between them and one of their main economic partners, China, is now 3 hours, despite being neighbours which could lead to problems with transporting goods. Therefore, Kazakhstan could fail to achieve their 2 main goals: improved economic efficiency and well-being of citizens.
