Kiribati is widely regarded as the first country to welcome the New Year because of its Line Islands time zone.
Kiribati is an island country in the central Pacific Ocean. Its Line Islands, including Kiritimati, use UTC+14, the world’s furthest-forward civil time zone. As a result, midnight arrives there before it reaches most other inhabited places, making Kiribati a frequent focus of global New Year coverage.
The situation changed in 1995, when Kiribati moved the International Date Line around its eastern islands so that the country could share the same calendar day. Before that change, parts of Kiribati were separated by a date difference despite belonging to one nation.
The phrase “first country” is a popular shorthand: different islands and territories enter the New Year at different times, and the exact order depends on time-zone rules. Kiritimati is the island most often mentioned in this context.