Civil calendar

The inscription over the Bevis Marks Synagogue, City of London, gives the year 5461 in Anno Mundi and 1701 in civil calendar dating.

The civil calendar is the calendar, or possibly one of several calendars, used within a country for civil, official, or administrative purposes. The civil calendar is almost always used for general purposes by people and private organizations.

The most widespread civil calendar and de facto international standard is the Gregorian calendar. Although that calendar is associated with the Catholic Church and the papacy, it has been adopted, as a matter of convenience, by many secular and non-Christian countries although some countries use other calendars.

Civil calendars worldwide

Main articles: List of calendars and Calendar era

The majority of countries in the world use the Gregorian calendar as their sole civil calendar.

Countries which do not use the Gregorian calendar include Afghanistan and Iran (which use the Solar Hijri calendar), Ethiopia (Ethiopian calendar), and Nepal (Vikram Samvat).

Some countries use other calendars alongside the Gregorian calendar: these include Bangladesh (Bangla calendar), India (Indian national calendar), and Israel (Hebrew calendar).

Other countries use modified versions of the Gregorian calendar, such as Taiwan (Minguo calendar), Thailand (Thai solar calendar), North Korea (North Korean Calendar), and Japan (Japanese calendar).

See also

• Chinese calendar
• Islamic calendar
• List of calendars
• Persian calendar
• Vikram Samvat