Kiribati moved the International Date Line in 1995 so all its inhabited islands could share the same calendar date.
Kiribati consists of widely scattered islands in the central Pacific. Before the change, the International Date Line separated the Phoenix and Line Islands from the Gilbert Islands, creating different weekdays within the same country. The government shifted the practical date boundary eastward around the country.
The change meant that Kiribati's Line Islands, including Kiritimati, became among the first inhabited places to enter each new calendar year. Kiritimati is often called Christmas Island, but it is not the same place as Australia's Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean.
The International Date Line is not a perfectly straight legal boundary. It bends around national territories and island groups so that communities and countries can avoid unnecessary differences in calendar date.