Kiribati is the Pacific island country whose Kiritimati residents are among the first to celebrate New Year's Day.
Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, lies in Kiribati's Line Islands. The islands use UTC+14, the world's most advanced civil time zone, so midnight arrives there before it does in nearly every other inhabited location. This makes Kiritimati a frequent focus of international New Year coverage.
Kiribati moved the International Date Line around its eastern islands in 1994, bringing the country onto the same calendar date. The change ended a situation in which different parts of Kiribati could be on different sides of the date line. New Zealand's Chatham Islands and other Pacific locations also celebrate early, so “first” claims depend on whether one means a country, territory, island or inhabited settlement.