Kiribati moved the International Date Line eastward in 1995 so its widely scattered territory could share the same calendar date and working week.
Kiribati consists of three island groups: the Gilbert, Phoenix, and Line Islands. After independence, the country’s territory stretched across both sides of the conventional date line. Government offices and businesses on opposite sides had only four overlapping weekdays, making routine administration and commerce awkward.
To solve the problem, Kiribati changed the date used by its eastern islands. The local calendar went from Friday, December 30, 1994, directly to Sunday, January 1, 1995, skipping Saturday. The practical result was that the date line bent around the country’s territory instead of dividing it. The line’s precise legal and nautical status is more complicated, but maps generally show it curving east around Kiribati.
The change also gave Kiribati a celebrated tourism distinction: its eastern Line Islands, including Kiritimati, were among the first inhabited places to welcome the year 2000. Samoa made a separate date-line change in 2011, but that was not the 1995 event described here.