Kiribati moved the International Date Line in 1995 so its eastern islands could enter the New Year on the same calendar day as the rest of the country.
Kiribati is an island nation spread across a vast area of the central Pacific Ocean. Before the change, the country’s Line Islands were nearly a full day behind its Gilbert Islands, creating practical difficulties for government, travel, and communication within one nation.
Kiribati shifted the date boundary eastward around the Line Islands. The adjustment placed the country’s inhabited island groups on consecutive sides of the boundary in the same calendar zone, allowing the nation to share one working week and one date.
The change also gave Kiribati a prominent place in New Year's Eve coverage. Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is among the first inhabited places to reach a new calendar year. The International Date Line is not a perfectly straight legal line, because countries have adjusted it for administrative reasons.