diff --git a/graalpython/com.oracle.graal.python.test/src/tests/test_sysconfig.py b/graalpython/com.oracle.graal.python.test/src/tests/test_sysconfig.py
index fdf49f6847..1434e5a962 100644
--- a/graalpython/com.oracle.graal.python.test/src/tests/test_sysconfig.py
+++ b/graalpython/com.oracle.graal.python.test/src/tests/test_sysconfig.py
@@ -60,6 +60,18 @@ def test_platform_sysconfigdata():
     assert sys.abiflags in sysconfig.get_config_var("INCLUDEPY")
 
 
+@unittest.skipIf(sys.platform == "win32", "Windows has no system time zone database")
+def test_tzpath_searches_system_time_zones():
+    import sysconfig
+    tzpath = sysconfig.get_config_var("TZPATH")
+    assert tzpath == "/usr/share/zoneinfo:/usr/lib/zoneinfo:/usr/share/lib/zoneinfo:/etc/zoneinfo", tzpath
+    import os
+    import subprocess
+    env = {k: v for k, v in os.environ.items() if k != "PYTHONTZPATH"}
+    out = subprocess.check_output([sys.executable, "-c", "import zoneinfo; print(':'.join(zoneinfo.TZPATH))"], env=env, text=True)
+    assert out.strip() == tzpath, out
+
+
 @unittest.skipUnless(sys.platform == "win32", "Windows-specific sysconfig behavior")
 def test_windows_libpython_is_not_exposed():
     import sysconfig
diff --git a/graalpython/lib-graalpython/_sysconfig.py b/graalpython/lib-graalpython/_sysconfig.py
index f8bfb242ea..916e3de2ba 100644
--- a/graalpython/lib-graalpython/_sysconfig.py
+++ b/graalpython/lib-graalpython/_sysconfig.py
@@ -38,6 +38,9 @@
 # SOFTWARE.
 
 
+_DEFAULT_TZPATH = "/usr/share/zoneinfo:/usr/lib/zoneinfo:/usr/share/lib/zoneinfo:/etc/zoneinfo"
+
+
 def _append_flags(g, key, flags):
     value = g.get(key, "")
     parts = value.split()
@@ -102,4 +105,8 @@ def _update_posix_vars(config_vars=None):
     _setdefault(config_vars, 'LIBDIR', __graalpython__.capi_home)
     _setdefault(config_vars, 'LIBDEST', __graalpython__.capi_home)
     _setdefault(config_vars, 'LIBPL', __graalpython__.capi_home.replace(os.path.sep, '/'))
+    if not win32_native:
+        # zoneinfo searches the system time zone database in TZPATH; use the
+        # locations CPython's configure uses by default (--with-tzpath)
+        _setdefault(config_vars, 'TZPATH', _DEFAULT_TZPATH)
     return config_vars