Which country's time zone is the farthest ahead of UTC?

Kiribati is the country whose time zone reaches farthest ahead of UTC. Its Line Islands use UTC+14:00, the world’s most advanced civil time offset.

Kiribati is spread across the central Pacific and has three official time zones: Gilbert Island Time at UTC+12:00, Phoenix Island Time at UTC+13:00, and Line Islands Time at UTC+14:00. The country therefore does not have one single national clock, but its maximum offset is farther ahead than any other country’s standard time zone.

This unusual arrangement is linked to the International Date Line. In 1994, Kiribati shifted its Phoenix and Line Islands from UTC−11:00 and UTC−10:00 to UTC+13:00 and UTC+14:00. The practical result was that the date line bent around Kiribati, bringing all of the country’s islands onto the same calendar date.

Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is the best-known inhabited place in the UTC+14 zone. It is among the first populated locations on Earth to begin a new calendar day and New Year. Russia spans many time zones, but none reaches as far ahead as Kiribati’s Line Islands.