The D-M-Y (day, month, year) format is the most widely used around the world, whether we count the number of countries that use it or number of inhabitants of these countries. It is used throughout South and Central America (except Belize), Mexico, Africa, Oceania, much of Asia and most of Europe.

The 24-hour clock is primarily used in the non-english speaking countries in Europe, Lation America, Asia and Africa. Most English speaking countries expect The United States usually switches back and forth between 12-hour and 24-hour time because neither have been established as the standard.

There are four possible formats to choose from: MonthName Day, Year as in January 15, 2001 (symbolized as MMMM dD, YYYY) Day MonthName Year as in 15 January 2001 (symbolized as dD MMMM YYYY) Year MonthName Day as in 2001 January 15 (symbolized as YYYY MMMM DD)

The United States is one of the few countries that use “mm-dd-yyyy” as their date format–which is very very unique! The day is written first and the year last in most countries (dd-mm-yyyy) and some nations, such as Iran, Korea, and China, write the year first and the day last (yyyy-mm-dd).