The legal and cultural expectations for date and time representation vary between countries, and it is important to be aware of the forms of all-numeric calendar dates used in a particular country to know what date is intended.
Writers have traditionally written abbreviated dates according to their local custom, creating all-numeric equivalents to day–month formats such as "16 January 2025" (16/01/25, 16/01/2025, 16-01-2025 or 16.01.2025) and month–day formats such as "January 16, 2025" (01/16/25 or 01/16/2025). This can result in dates that are impossible to understand correctly without knowing the context. For instance, depending on the order style, the abbreviated date "01/11/06" can be interpreted as "1 November 2006" for DMY, "January 11, 2006" for MDY, and "2001 November 6" for YMD.
The ISO 8601 format YYYY-MM-DD (2025-01-16) is intended to harmonize these formats and ensure accuracy in all situations. Many countries have adopted it as their sole official date format, though even in these areas writers may adopt abbreviated formats that are no longer recommended.
Short format: dd/mm/yy (Example: 13/06/03) Medium format: dd/mm/yyyy (Example: 13/06/2003) Long format: d' de 'mmmm' de 'yyyy (Example: 13 de junio de 2003) Full format: dddd d' de 'mmmm' de 'yyyy (Example: viernes 13 de junio de 2003).[6]
mmmm d, yyyy is sometimes used, usually informally in the mastheads of magazines and newspapers,[10][11] and in advertisements, video games, news, and TV shows, especially those emanating from the United States. MDY in numeric-only form is never used.
The ISO 8601 date format (2025-01-16) is the recommended short date format for government publications.[12]
For English speakers, MDY (mmmm-dd-yyyy) (example: April 9, 2019) is used by many English-language publications and media company products as well as the majority of government documents written in English.[35]
For French and English speakers, DMY (dd-mmmm-yyyy) is used (example: 9 April 2019/le 9 avril 2019). This form is used in formal letters, academic papers, military, many media companies and some government documents, particularly in French-language ones.
Federal regulations for shelf life dates on perishable goods mandate a year/month/day format, but allow the month to be written in full, in both official languages, or with a set of standardized two-letter bilingual codes such as 2019 AL 09 or 19 AL 09.
[37] In Chile the format dd/mm/yyyy is used only, or you can also say "3 June 2023" or in Spanish "3 de junio del 2023"You can also use the short format, example "03/06/23".
National standard format is yyyy-mm-dd (with leading zeroes) and (yy)yy年(m)m月(d)d日 (with or without leading zeroes)[38]
Uyghur languages in Xinjiang usually give date examples in the form 2017-يىل 18-ئاۋغۇست or 2017-8-18 (i.e. yyyy-d-mmm) but this form is never used when writing in Chinese;[39] casually many people use (yy)yy/(m)m/(d)d or (yy)yy.(m)m.(d)d (with or without leading zeroes). See Dates in Chinese.
Examples: Long date: 7. juni 1994. Long date with weekday: onsdag(,) den 21. december 1994. Numeric date: 1994-06-07[48]
(The format dd.mm.(yy)yy is the traditional Danish date format.[49] The international format yyyy-mm-dd or yyyymmdd is also accepted, though this format is not commonly used. The formats d. 'month name' yyyy and in handwriting d/m-yy or d/m yyyy are also acceptable.[50])
Short format: dd/mm/yyyy (Day first, month number and year in left-to-right writing direction) in Afar, French and Somali ("d/m/yy" is a common alternative). Gregorian dates follow the same rules but tend to be written in the yyyy/m/d format (Day first, month number, and year in right-to-left writing direction) in Arabic language.
Long format: d mmmm yyyy or mmmm dd, yyyy (Day first, full month name, and year or first full month name, day, and year, in left-to-right writing direction) in Afar, French and Somali and yyyy ،mmmm d (Day first, full month name, and year in right-to-left writing direction) in Arabic
Short format: dd/mm/yyyy for Afar, Bilen, English, Saho, Tigre and Tigrinya. Gregorian dates follow the same rules but tend to be written in the yyyy/m/d (Day first, month number and year in right-to-left writing direction) format in Arabic language.
Long format: D MMMM YYYY (Day first, full month name, and year in left-to-right writing direction) for Bilen, English, Tigre and Tigrinya, YYYY ،MMMM D (Day first, full month name, and year in right-to-left writing direction) for Arabic and MMMM DD, YYYY (First full month name, day and year in left-to-right writing direction) for Afar and Saho
dd.mm.yyyy, d.m.(yy)yy or d. mmmm yyyy (mmmm may be substituted by Roman numerals). In more formal, international contexts yyyy-mm-dd is the preferred allowed format.[58]
Finnish: d.m.yyyy[61] or in long format d. mmmm yyyy Inari Sami: mmmm d. p. yyyy Northern Sami: mmmm d. b. yyyy Skolt Sami: mmmm d. p. yyyy Swedish: d mmmm yyyy (Note: Month and year can be shortened)
The format dd.mm.yyyy using dots (which denote ordinal numbering) is the traditional German date format,[65] and continues to be the most commonly used. In 1996, the international format yyyy-mm-dd was made the official date format in standardized contexts such as government, education, engineering and sciences. However, as it failed to establish itself, the traditional format (d)d.(m)m.(yy)yy was allowed again as an alternative in 2006 (except in areas where there is risk of ambiguity). The handwritten form d. mmmm yyyy is also accepted (compare DIN 5008).[citation needed] See Date and time notation in Europe.
Short format: dd/mm/yyyy (Day first, month and year in left-to-right writing direction) in French and Fulah. Gregorian dates follow the same rules but tend to be written in yyyy/mm/dd (Day first, month number, and year in right-to-left writing direction) format in N'ko language.
Long format: D MMMM YYYY (Day first, month and year in left-to-right writing direction) for French and Fulah and YYYY, DD MMMM (First full month name, day, and year in right-to-left writing direction) for N'ko
(yy)yy年(m)m月(d)d日 (if without leading zeros) for Chinese[70] and in British English, (d)d/(m)m/(yy)yy in short format. d mmmm yyyy (Casually many people use with commas: d mmmm, yyyy) in long format.
Both expanded forms dd-mmmm-yyyy and mmmm-dd-yyyy are used interchangeably in Hong Kong, except the latter was more frequently used in media publications and commercial purpose, such as The Standard.
The year is written in Arabic numerals. The name of the month can be written out in full or abbreviated, or it can be indicated by Roman numerals or Arabic numerals. The day is written in Arabic numerals.[72][73][74]
In India, the dd-mm-yyyy is the predominant short form of the numeric date usage. Almost all government documents need to be filled up in the dd-mm-yyyy format. An example of dd-mm-yyyy usage is the passport application form.[77][78][79] Though not yet a common practice, the BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) of the Government of India introduced the standard named "IS 7900:2001 (Revised in 2006) Data Elements And Interchange Formats – Information Interchange – Representation Of Dates And Times" which officially recommends use of the date format yyyy-mm-dd;[citation needed] for example, 2013-09-10, 20130910, or 2013 09 10 for the date 10 September 2013. Dates in the Bodo language are in mm/dd/yyyy.
The majority of English-language newspapers and media publications in India use mmmm dd, yyyy.[citation needed]
On English-written materials, Indonesians tend to use the M-D-Y but was more widely used in non-governmental contexts.[citation needed] English-language governmental and academic documents use DMY.
Short format: yyyy/mm/dd[80] in Persian Calendar system ("yy/m/d" is a common alternative). Gregorian dates follow the same rules in Persian literature but tend to be written in the dd/mm/yyyy format in official English documents.[81]
Long format: YYYY MMMM D (Day first, full month name, and year in right-to-left writing direction)[80]
The format dd.mm.yyyy using dots is the common format. dd/mm/yyyy is also in common use. The Jewish calendar is in limited use, mainly for Jewish holidays, and follows the DMY format.[85][86][87]
Short format: (yyyy.dd.mm) in Kazakh[94][obsolete source] and (dd.mm.(yy)yy) in Russian[95][obsolete source] Long format: yyyy 'ж'. d mmmm in Kazakh;[96] d MMMM yyyy in Russian
National standard format is yyyy-mm-dd (with leading zeroes) and yyyy оны (m)m сарын (d)d (with or without leading zeroes)
Traditional Mongolian languages in Mongolia usually give date examples in the form 2017ᠣᠨ ᠵᠢᠷᠭᠤᠳᠤᠭᠠᠷ ᠰᠠᠷᠠ 2ᠡᠳᠦᠷ but this form is never used when writing in Mongolian Cyrillic; casually many people use yyyy/(m)m/(d)d or yyyy.(m)m.(d)d (with or without leading zeroes).[117]
Both d.m.yyyy. and dd.mm.yyyy. are accepted. A period is used as a separator and after the year because the Montenegrin language writes these numbers as ordinal numbers that are written as the corresponding cardinal number, with a period at the end.[118]
DMY,[citation needed] YMD in official Nepali Vikram Samvat calendar (also see Nepal Sambat which is also in use); MDY in Gregorian dates are used for newspapers (English language) and PCs[121]
dd.mm.yyyy; leading zeroes and century digits may be omitted, e.g., 10.02.16; ddmmyy (six figures, no century digits, no delimiters) allowed in tables. ISO dates yyyy-mm-dd can be used for "technical" purposes. The fraction form d/m-y is incorrect, but is common and considered passable in handwriting. Lule Sami and Southern Sami dates mmmm d. b. yyyy.[128]
Long formats: English: mmmm d, yyyy DMY dates are also used occasionally, primarily by, but not limited to, government institutions such as on the data page of passports, and immigration and customs forms. Filipino: ika-d ng mmmm(,) yyyy[135] or a-d ng mmmm(,) yyyy (Note: Month and year can be shortened. Filipino dates may also be written in mmmm d, yyyy format in civil use but still pronounced as above.)
Short/numerical format: mm/dd/yyyy for both languages.
Traditional format (DMY): (dd.mm.yyyy,[136] often with dots as separators; more official is d <month in genitive> yyyy, or, less frequently, d <month in Roman numerals> yyyy)[137][138]
Official format (YMD):
The ISO 8601 YYYY-MM-DD format is used in official documents, banks, computer systems[citation needed] and the internet[citation needed] in Poland.
(dd.mm.yyyy)[141][142] Also widely used: (d)d-mmm-yyyy (3 letters of month name with the notable exception of Nov for November, which would otherwise be noiembrie) and (d)d-XII-yyyy (month number as a Roman numeral with lines above AND below, slowly deprecating)
(dd.mm.(yy)yy);[143] more official is d <month in genitive> yyyy г. (= g., short for goda, i.e. year in genitive)
Bashkir, Ossetian, Sakha and Tatar languages in Russia usually give date examples in the form 22 май 2017 й, 22 майы, 2017 аз, ыам ыйын 22 күнэ 2017 с., 22 май 2017 ел but this form is never used when writing in Russian.
English-language media and commercial publications use Month-day-year in long format, but only Day-month-year format (both long and short numeric) are used in governmental and other English documents of official contexts.
National standard format is yyyy-mm-dd.[161] dd.mm.yyyy format is used in some places where it is required by EU regulations, for example for best-before dates on food[162] and on driver's licenses. d/m format is used casually, when the year is obvious from the context, and for date ranges, e.g. 28-31/8 for 28–31 August.
The textual format is "d mmmm yyyy" or "den d mmmm yyyy".
Most style guides follow the DMY convention by recommending d mmmm yyyy (sometimes written dd/mm/yyyy) format in articles (e.g. The Guardian's, and the Oxford Style Manual).[183][184]
Some newspapers use dddd mmmm d, yyyy for both the banner and articles,[185] while others stick to DMY for both.[186]
In addition, YMD with four-digit year is used increasingly especially in applications associated with computers, and as per British standard BS ISO 8601:2019+A1:2022,[187] avoiding the ambiguity of the numerical versions of the DMY/MDY formats.
(Civilian vernacular: m/d/yy or m/d/yyyy;[188][189] other formats, especially d mmm(m) yyyy (but no short DMY formats) and yyyy-mm-dd (but rarely any other short YMD formats and rarely any long YMD formats), are sometimes prescribed or used—particularly in military, academic, scientific, computing, industrial, or governmental contexts. See Date and time notation in the United States.)
Long format: "Ngày (d)d tháng (m)m năm yyyy" (leading zeros required by Circular No. 01/2011/TT-BNV by the Ministry of Home Affairs)[200] or ngày (d)d tháng (month in textform) năm yyyy.
Short format (interchangeably): (d)d/(m)m/yyyy or (d)d-(m)m-yyyy; (d)d.(m)m.yyyy is also in use.[201]
^Collishaw, Barbara (2002). "FAQs on Writing the Date". Terminology Update. 35 (2): 12. Archived from the original on 8 August 2018. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
^AjanilmauksetArchived 2017-10-20(Date mismatch) at the Wayback Machine Kielikello 2/2006. Institute for the Languages of Finland. Retrieved 2024-12-12
^ abبانک مرکزی ایران (in Persian). The Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Archived from the original on 21 April 2009. Retrieved 30 April 2009.
^"Tall, tid og dato" [Numbers, time and date] (in Norwegian). Norway: Språkrådet [Language Council]. 30 June 2015. Archived from the original on 4 December 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2017.