Kiritimati is widely described as the first inhabited place to welcome the New Year.
Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is part of the Republic of Kiribati in the central Pacific Ocean. It uses Line Islands Time, UTC+14, the world's furthest-forward civil time zone. As a result, midnight arrives there before it reaches most other inhabited locations.
The island's position is a consequence of Kiribati's 1994 decision to realign its eastern islands on the same side of the International Date Line. The change made the country’s calendar date consistent across its widely scattered territory.
“First” depends on the definition being used. Kiritimati is commonly cited as the first inhabited location, while nearby uninhabited or sparsely populated areas may be discussed in time-zone comparisons. The island's name means Christmas Island, not New Year's Island.