What Are ISO Week Numbers?

The ISO 8601 week numbering system is an international standard used to avoid ambiguity when referring to weeks of the year.

Quick Answer

ISO week numbers are an international standard for numbering weeks. In this system, a week always starts on Monday. Week number 1 of any year is always the first week that contains a Thursday. This prevents weeks from being split between two years.

The ISO 8601 system defines weeks to prevent ambiguity. Weeks start on Monday, and week 1 of a year is the one containing the first Thursday of the year. This means some years can have 53 weeks. You can use our Week Number Calculator to find the ISO week for any date.