Most of the world writes dates day first: 2 October 2026 becomes 02/10/2026. The United States writes the month first (10/02/2026), and countries such as China, Japan, South Korea, Canada and Sweden usually put the year first (2026-10-02). India uses day first, so 02/10/2026 means 2 October.
That is why 02/10/2026 can mean 2 October to one person and February 10 to another. To show who uses which format, we checked the standard date settings that phones and computers use for 44 locales in 43 countries, taken from the Unicode Common Locale Data Repository (CLDR). Below are the results, plus simple ways to write a date nobody can misread.
- Day-month-year (DMY): 28 of the 44 locales we checked, including India, the UK, Australia and most of Europe and Latin America
- Year-month-day (YMD): 14 locales, including China, Japan, South Korea, Canada and Sweden
- Month-day-year (MDY): only 2, the United States and the Philippines
- Safest way to write a date: spell out the month (2 October 2026) or use 2026-10-02
The three date formats
| Format | Order | 2 October 2026 written as | Common in |
|---|---|---|---|
| DMY | Day, month, year | 02/10/2026 | India, UK, Europe, Latin America, Africa, much of Asia |
| MDY | Month, day, year | 10/02/2026 | United States, Philippines |
| YMD | Year, month, day | 2026-10-02 | China, Japan, Korea, Canada, Sweden, Hungary, Lithuania |
Year-month-day is also the international standard, ISO 8601. Our guide to the ISO 8601 date format explains it in full.
Date format by country
This table shows the default short date for each locale in CLDR version 48.2.3, which the Unicode Consortium says is built into all modern operating systems and browsers. We filled each pattern in with 2 October 2026.
| Country | Order | 2 October 2026 (short form) |
|---|---|---|
| Philippines | Month-day-year | 10/2/26 |
| United States | Month-day-year | 10/2/26 |
| Canada (English) | Year-month-day | 2026-10-02 |
| Canada (French) | Year-month-day | 2026-10-02 |
| China | Year-month-day | 2026/10/2 |
| Hungary | Year-month-day | 2026. 10. 02. |
| Iran (Persian) * | Year-month-day | 2026/10/2 |
| Japan | Year-month-day | 2026/10/02 |
| Lithuania | Year-month-day | 2026-10-02 |
| Mongolia | Year-month-day | 2026.10.02 |
| Nepal (Nepali) | Year-month-day | 26/10/2 |
| South Africa | Year-month-day | 2026/10/02 |
| South Korea | Year-month-day | 26. 10. 2. |
| Sri Lanka (Sinhala) | Year-month-day | 2026-10-02 |
| Sweden | Year-month-day | 2026-10-02 |
| Taiwan (Traditional Chinese) | Year-month-day | 2026/10/2 |
| Argentina | Day-month-year | 2/10/26 |
| Australia | Day-month-year | 2/10/26 |
| Bangladesh (Bengali) | Day-month-year | 2/10/26 |
| Brazil | Day-month-year | 02/10/2026 |
| Egypt | Day-month-year | 2/10/2026 |
| France | Day-month-year | 02/10/2026 |
| Germany | Day-month-year | 02.10.26 |
| India (English) | Day-month-year | 02/10/26 |
| India (Hindi) | Day-month-year | 2/10/26 |
| Indonesia | Day-month-year | 02/10/26 |
| Ireland | Day-month-year | 02/10/2026 |
| Israel | Day-month-year | 2.10.2026 |
| Italy | Day-month-year | 02/10/26 |
| Kenya (Swahili) | Day-month-year | 02/10/2026 |
| Mexico | Day-month-year | 02/10/26 |
| Netherlands | Day-month-year | 02-10-2026 |
| Nigeria | Day-month-year | 02/10/2026 |
| Pakistan (Urdu) | Day-month-year | 2/10/26 |
| Poland | Day-month-year | 2.10.2026 |
| Portugal | Day-month-year | 02/10/26 |
| Russia | Day-month-year | 02.10.2026 |
| Saudi Arabia | Day-month-year | 2/10/2026 |
| Singapore | Day-month-year | 2/10/26 |
| Spain | Day-month-year | 2/10/26 |
| Thailand (Thai) * | Day-month-year | 2/10/26 |
| Turkey | Day-month-year | 2.10.2026 |
| United Kingdom | Day-month-year | 02/10/2026 |
| Vietnam | Day-month-year | 2/10/26 |
A few things stand out. India’s English and Hindi settings both use day first. Canada’s short date is year first in both English and French. And separators vary: slashes in India and the UK, dots in Germany, Russia and Turkey, and hyphens in the Netherlands and Sweden.
Which countries use month-day-year?
Very few. To check beyond our main list, we scanned all 123 regional English locales in CLDR. 110 use day first, 9 use month first and 4 use year first.
- Month first: the United States and the US territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and the US Minor Outlying Islands, plus the Philippines, the Marshall Islands and Burundi.
- Year first: Canada, Japan, Sweden and South Africa.
- Day first: everywhere else, including India, the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Nigeria and Kenya.
Why the difference matters
Mixed-up dates cause real problems: missed appointments, wrong deadlines and expired-looking documents. A date like 05/06/2026 is 5 June in India but May 6 in the US. Any date where the day is 12 or less can be read both ways. Dates from the 13th onwards are easier, because 13/06 can only mean the 13th of June.
How to write a date anyone can understand
- Spell out the month. “2 October 2026” or “October 2, 2026” can’t be misread, in any country.
- Use a short month name in tight spaces. “2 Oct 2026” still removes all doubt.
- Use year-month-day for files and data. 2026-10-02 sorts correctly and is the international standard.
- Use four digits for the year. 02/10/26 could even be read as 26 October 2002 in a year-first country.
- Follow the reader’s custom in forms. If a form shows DD/MM/YYYY, fill it in that order.
How to change the date format in Excel
Excel shows dates using your computer’s regional settings, but you can set any order for a cell. Select the cells, open Format Cells, choose Custom, and type a format code such as dd/mm/yyyy for day first, mm/dd/yyyy for month first or yyyy-mm-dd for year first. The date itself doesn’t change, only how it is shown.
If you work with times as well as dates, our guides to the 24-hour clock, Unix timestamps and GMT vs UTC cover the other common mix-ups. Calendars differ too; see our guide to leap year rules.
Frequently asked questions
What date format does India use?
Day-month-year. 2 October 2026 is written 02/10/2026 or 2/10/26. Both the English (India) and Hindi locales in CLDR put the day first.
What date format does the US use?
Month-day-year. The US default short date is 10/2/26 for 2 October 2026, and the longer form is Oct 2, 2026.
Which countries use YYYY-MM-DD?
In our check: China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Canada, Sweden, Hungary, Lithuania, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, South Africa and Iran (for Gregorian dates). Year first is also the ISO 8601 international standard.
Does the UK use DD/MM/YYYY?
Yes. The UK’s default short date is 02/10/2026 for 2 October 2026.
Is 10/02/2026 October 2 or February 10?
It depends on who wrote it. In the US it means October 2. In India, the UK and most other countries it means 10 February. If you aren’t sure, ask, or check another date in the same document that has a day above 12.
What is the most common date format in the world?
Day-month-year. It was the default in 28 of the 44 locales we checked, and in 110 of 123 English regional locales.
