Kiribati moved across the International Date Line in 1995 so its eastern islands could share the same calendar day.
Kiribati is a Pacific island country spread across a vast area of ocean. Before the change, its island groups occupied different calendar dates, which complicated government, travel, trade, and communication within one nation. The Line Islands, including Kiritimati, were especially far ahead or behind the country's other islands in practical scheduling.
In 1995, Kiribati adjusted the date-line arrangement around its eastern islands. The change aligned the country's inhabited island groups on the same date, although it did not physically move the internationally defined line everywhere. Kiritimati then became one of the first inhabited places to enter a new calendar day.
Kiribati is frequently mentioned in New Year's Eve coverage because its eastern islands reach January 1 before most populated places. Samoa is another Pacific country associated with a dramatic date change, but Samoa shifted to the west side of the date line in 2011, not in 1995.