Kiribati is widely associated with being among the first places to enter the New Year because part of the country uses UTC+14.
The Line Islands of Kiribati, including Kiritimati, observe Line Islands Time, which is 14 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. That position places them at the leading edge of the world’s civil time zones, so midnight arrives there before it does in most other inhabited locations.
Kiribati shifted the International Date Line around its eastern islands in 1994. Before that change, the country was divided by the date line, making it difficult for its islands to share the same calendar day. The adjustment placed the Line Islands on the same side of the date line as the rest of Kiribati.
“First in the world” can be imprecise because several islands and territories share very early time zones, and the exact order depends on the definition used. Kiribati is nevertheless the standard answer in New Year coverage because Kiritimati is an inhabited island in the earliest UTC offset.