Ramadan 2026 Fasting Times: How Long Muslims Around the World Will Fast This Year

Ramadan 2026 is almost here, and for Muslims around the world, the question of how many hours the daily fast will last is very much shaped by geography. The holy month is set to begin on February 18 or 19, the exact start date won't be confirmed until the crescent moon is spotted, and once it does, fasting schedules will diverge sharply depending on which side of the equator you live on.

Where you are determines how long you'll fast

The daily fast runs from the first light of dawn until sunset, and those hours add up very differently around the globe. For Muslims in northern countries, which is where close to 90 percent of the world's Muslim population lives, Ramadan 2026 actually arrives at a good time of year. Days are still short in mid-to-late February, so fasts at the start of the month will be around 12 to 13 hours. They'll get a bit longer as the weeks go on, but nothing extreme.

The picture is different for Muslims in the Southern Hemisphere, where summer is giving way to autumn. In places like Chile, New Zealand and South Africa, the opening days of Ramadan will bring fasts of roughly 14 to 15 hours. The good news for those observers is that the days keep getting shorter, so fasting durations will ease off as the month progresses.

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Why Ramadan falls at a different time every year

If you've ever wondered why Ramadan seems to drift across the calendar from one year to the next, it comes down to the way the Islamic calendar works. It follows the lunar Hijri calendar, which is built around moon cycles rather than the sun. That makes it about 11 days shorter than the Gregorian calendar most of the world uses day-to-day. The result is that Ramadan shifts back by roughly 10 to 12 days every year, cycling through all four seasons over the course of about 33 years.

Right now, that cycle has Ramadan landing in late winter for the Northern Hemisphere, and the fasting hours will keep getting shorter until 2031, when the holy month will overlap with the winter solstice — the year's shortest day. After that, fasts will gradually lengthen again as Ramadan moves into spring and beyond.

The shifting calendar also produces an unusual quirk in 2030: Ramadan will occur twice within the same calendar year, starting first on January 5 and then again on December 26.

What the fast involves, and why it matters

Ramadan is observed as the month when the first verses of the Quran were revealed to the Prophet Muhammad more than 1,400 years ago. During the fast, Muslims abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and intimate relations from dawn to dusk. The practice is about more than physical restraint, it's meant to cultivate taqwa, a state of heightened spiritual mindfulness and closeness to God.

Each fasting day begins before dawn with suhoor, a meal taken before the fast starts, and ends at sunset with iftar, when families and communities typically gather to break the fast together. The exact times for both meals depend on local sunrise and sunset calculations, which vary by city and shift slightly each day throughout the month.

The month lasts 29 or 30 days and is observed with a range of greetings across Muslim communities worldwide. The most common are "Ramadan Mubarak" and "Ramadan Kareem," wishing someone a blessed or generous Ramadan, though many countries have their own expressions in their native languages.