Why Ramadan 2027 fasts lengthen in the north and shorten in the south
Under the Umm al-Qura calendar, Ramadan 2027 begins on 8 February and its last fast is on 8 March 2027 (Day 29), less than two weeks before the March equinox (20 March). During February and early March, the subsolar point is moving northward toward the equator at its fastest seasonal rate.
As a result:
- Northern-hemisphere cities see Fajr move earlier and Maghrib move later each day, lengthening the daily fast from Day 1 to Day 29. The higher the northern latitude, the steeper the increase.
- Equatorial cities (such as Singapore at 1.3° N and Kuala Lumpur at 3.1° N) experience almost constant day length year-round, so their fasting duration changes by only a couple of minutes across the entire month.
- Southern-hemisphere cities (such as Sydney and Melbourne) are moving from late summer toward autumn, so sunrise comes later, sunset comes earlier, and the daily fast shortens from Day 1 to Day 29.
Day 1, Day 15 and Day 29 fasting durations across eight cities
All figures below use each country's default calculation method on SalahTable for the expected Gregorian dates of Ramadan 2027 (Day 1 = 8 February, Day 15 = 22 February, Day 29 = 8 March 2027). Umm al-Qura gives Ramadan 1448 29 days, so 9 March is Eid al-Fitr; where a community begins Ramadan a day later after local moon sighting, each column falls one day later.
| City / latitude | Day 1 (8 February) | Day 15 (22 February) | Day 29 (8 March) | Day 1 → Day 29 change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edinburgh 56.0°N · United Kingdom | 10h 49m 6:15 AM–5:04 PM | 11h 50m 5:44 AM–5:34 PM | 12h 53m 5:11 AM–6:04 PM | +124 min |
| London 51.5°N · United Kingdom | 11h 14m 5:51 AM–5:05 PM | 12h 06m 5:25 AM–5:31 PM | 13h 00m 4:56 AM–5:56 PM | +106 min |
| Toronto 43.7°N · Canada | 11h 33m 6:05 AM–5:38 PM | 12h 10m 5:47 AM–5:57 PM | 12h 51m 5:24 AM–6:15 PM | +78 min |
| New York 40.7°N · United States | 11h 40m 5:42 AM–5:22 PM | 12h 14m 5:25 AM–5:39 PM | 12h 51m 5:04 AM–5:55 PM | +71 min |
| Karachi 24.9°N · Pakistan | 12h 28m 5:53 AM–6:21 PM | 12h 45m 5:45 AM–6:30 PM | 13h 04m 5:33 AM–6:37 PM | +36 min |
| Makkah 21.4°N · Saudi Arabia | 12h 37m 5:38 AM–6:15 PM | 12h 52m 5:30 AM–6:22 PM | 13h 08m 5:20 AM–6:28 PM | +31 min |
| Singapore 1.3°N · Singapore | 13h 23m 5:58 AM–7:21 PM | 13h 23m 5:58 AM–7:21 PM | 13h 23m 5:56 AM–7:19 PM | 0 min |
| Sydney 33.9°S · Australia | 15h 04m 4:51 AM–7:55 PM | 14h 33m 5:08 AM–7:41 PM | 14h 00m 5:23 AM–7:23 PM | -64 min |
Why the northern and southern curves cross in March
On Day 1 (8 February), Sydney's late-summer fast (15h 04m) is more than two hours longer than London's late-winter fast (11h 14m). By Day 29 (8 March), as both hemispheres approach the equinox, their fasts converge toward 13 hours (13h 00m in London vs 14h 00m in Sydney).
This progression also illustrates why you should never rely on a single day's sehri or iftar time for the whole month: in London and Edinburgh, Fajr moves more than 45 minutes earlier between the start and end of Ramadan 2027. Download the full city dataset on our research page or open your city's printable Ramadan 2027 timetable.