Kiribati includes the Line Islands, whose UTC+14 time zone makes them among the first places to celebrate New Year's Eve.
Kiribati is an island country in the central Pacific Ocean. Its Line Islands, including Kiritimati, use Line Islands Time, which is UTC+14. Because the International Date Line bends around the country's territory, these islands reach a new calendar date earlier than almost anywhere else inhabited.
Kiribati moved the date-line boundary around its eastern islands in 1994, bringing the country's calendar into alignment. Before that change, different parts of Kiribati could be separated by a full day in local date, making government and communication difficult.
A common oversimplification says Kiribati is always the first country to celebrate New Year's Eve. The exact order depends on which island and time zone are being compared, and other Pacific locations are also among the earliest. Kiritimati is the specific Kiribati location most often mentioned in global New Year's coverage.