Gregorian calendar It also specifies its epact relative to 1 January, in contrast with the Julian calendar, which specified it relative to 22 March. The old date was derived from the Greek system: the earlier "Supputatio Romana" specified it relative to 1 January. During the period between 1582, when the first countries adopted the Gregorian calendar, and 1923, when the last European country adopted it, it was often necessary to indicate the date of some event in both the Julian calendar and in the Gregorian calendar, for example, "10/21 February 1750/51", where the dual year accounts for some countries already beginning their
Adoption of the Gregorian calendar the solar year on a 32-year cycle. Some countries in the Islamic world use the Gregorian calendar for civil purposes, while retaining the Islamic calendar for religious purposes. Saudi Arabia adopted the Gregorian calendar as its civil calendar at the end of 2016. Today, the vast majority of countries use the Gregorian calendar as their sole civil calendar. Countries which have not adopted the Gregorian calendar are Ethiopia (Ethiopian calendar), Iran and Afghanistan (Persian calendar). Some countries use other calendars alongside the Gregorian calendar, including India (Indian national calendar), Bangladesh (Bengali calendar), Nepal (Vikram Samvat), Pakistan (Islamic calendar), Israel (Hebrew