Kiritimati enters the New Year in the UTC+14 time zone.
Kiritimati, also known as Christmas Island, is part of Kiribati's Line Islands. The islands use Line Islands Time, which is 14 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. Because this is the world's furthest-forward civil time zone, Kiritimati is among the first inhabited places to reach each new calendar year.
Kiribati shifted the International Date Line eastward for its eastern islands in 1995. Before that change, the country's islands were separated by different calendar dates. The adjustment allowed Kiribati's territory to share the same date and helped the Line Islands become famous for welcoming the New Year early.
Kiritimati is often described in travel coverage as one of the first inhabited places to celebrate New Year's Eve. The exact order can depend on which locations are counted, but UTC+14 is the stable time-zone fact. The island's name comes from the local pronunciation of “Christmas.”