Today's Date in European Format
According to Recommendation No. 7 (ISO 8601) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, all-numeric dates should be written in descending order — year, then month, then day — with or without separators. In everyday use, however, most European countries still write dates day-first.
Date Format by European Country
Below is today's date written in the everyday format used in each European country, alongside the format pattern itself.
| 🇦🇱 AL | Albania | 19/08/2026 (DD/MM/YYYY) |
| 🇦🇩 AD | Andorra | 19/08/2026 (DD/MM/YYYY) |
| 🇦🇲 AM | Armenia | 19.08.2026 (DD.MM.YYYY) |
| 🇦🇹 AT | Austria | 19.08.2026 (DD.MM.YYYY) |
| 🇧🇾 BY | Belarus | 19.08.2026 (DD.MM.YYYY) |
| 🇧🇪 BE | Belgium | 19/08/2026 (DD/MM/YYYY) |
| 🇧🇦 BA | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 19. 8. 2026 (D. M. YYYY) |
| 🇧🇬 BG | Bulgaria | 19.08.2026 (DD.MM.YYYY) |
| 🇭🇷 HR | Croatia | 19. 8. 2026 (D. M. YYYY) |
| 🇨🇾 CY | Cyprus | 19/08/2026 (DD/MM/YYYY) |
| 🇨🇿 CZ | Czech Republic | 19. 8. 2026 (D. M. YYYY) |
| 🇩🇰 DK | Denmark | 19.08.2026 (DD.MM.YYYY) |
| 🇪🇪 EE | Estonia | 19.08.2026 (DD.MM.YYYY) |
| 🇫🇮 FI | Finland | 19.8.2026 (D.M.YYYY) |
| 🇫🇷 FR | France | 19/08/2026 (DD/MM/YYYY) |
| 🇩🇪 DE | Germany | 19.08.2026 (DD.MM.YYYY) |
| 🇬🇷 GR | Greece | 19.8.2026 (D.M.YYYY) |
| 🇭🇺 HU | Hungary | 2026. 08. 19. (YYYY. MM. D.) |
| 🇮🇸 IS | Iceland | 19.08.2026 (DD.MM.YYYY) |
| 🇮🇪 IE | Ireland | 19-08-2026 (DD-MM-YYYY) |
| 🇮🇹 IT | Italy | 19/08/2026 (DD/MM/YYYY) |
| 🇱🇻 LV | Latvia | 19.08.2026 (DD.MM.YYYY) |
| 🇱🇮 LI | Liechtenstein | 19.08.2026 (DD.MM.YYYY) |
| 🇱🇹 LT | Lithuania | 2026-08-19 (YYYY-MM-DD) |
| 🇱🇺 LU | Luxembourg | 19.08.2026 (DD.MM.YYYY) |
| 🇲🇰 MK | North Macedonia | 19.08.2026 (DD.MM.YYYY) |
| 🇲🇹 MT | Malta | 19/08/2026 (DD/MM/YYYY) |
| 🇲🇩 MD | Moldova | 19.08.2026 (DD.MM.YYYY) |
| 🇲🇪 ME | Montenegro | 19.8.2026 (D.M.YYYY) |
| 🇳🇱 NL | Netherlands | 19-08-2026 (DD-MM-YYYY) |
| 🇳🇴 NO | Norway | 19.08.2026 (DD.MM.YYYY) |
| 🇵🇱 PL | Poland | 19.08.2026 (DD.MM.YYYY) |
| 🇵🇹 PT | Portugal | 19/08/2026 (DD/MM/YYYY) |
| 🇷🇴 RO | Romania | 19.08.2026 (DD.MM.YYYY) |
| 🇷🇺 RU | Russia | 19.08.2026 (DD.MM.YYYY) |
| 🇷🇸 RS | Serbia | 19.08.2026 (DD.MM.YYYY) |
| 🇸🇰 SK | Slovakia | 19. 8. 2026 (D. M. YYYY) |
| 🇸🇮 SI | Slovenia | 19. 8. 2026 (D. M. YYYY) |
| 🇪🇸 ES | Spain | 19/08/2026 (DD/MM/YYYY) |
| 🇸🇪 SE | Sweden | 2026-08-19 (YYYY-MM-DD) |
| 🇨🇭 CH | Switzerland | 19.08.2026 (DD.MM.YYYY) |
| 🇺🇦 UA | Ukraine | 19.08.2026 (DD.MM.YYYY) |
| 🇬🇧 GB | United Kingdom | 19/08/2026 (DD/MM/YYYY) |
| 🇻🇦 VA | Vatican City | 19/08/2026 (DD/MM/YYYY) |
European vs. US Date Formats
Nearly every European country writes dates day-first — DD/MM/YYYY or a close variant with dots or dashes as separators. This differs sharply from the United States, which uniquely uses month-first MM/DD/YYYY, a habit that dates back to how the format was commonly spoken aloud ("July 4th") rather than written.
The mismatch causes real confusion: 04/07/2026 means July 4th in the US format but April 7th almost everywhere in Europe — identical digits, two different dates. This is exactly the ambiguity that ISO 8601's year-first YYYY-MM-DD format was designed to eliminate.