Samoa moved its clocks forward across the International Date Line in 2011, changing when it celebrated New Year’s Eve.
On December 29, 2011, Samoa skipped December 30 and moved from the western side of the International Date Line to the eastern side in practical timekeeping terms. At midnight, the country advanced its clocks by 24 hours, making December 31 follow December 29.
The change was made to align Samoa’s working week more closely with key trading partners such as Australia and New Zealand. Before the change, Samoa was one of the last places to enter a new calendar day; afterward, it became one of the first.
Tonga and Kiribati are also Pacific countries associated with early New Year celebrations, but neither is the country identified by this specific 2011 date-line shift. Samoa later restored daylight-saving changes separately from the date-line decision.