Kiribati uses the Line Islands' UTC+14 time zone and is among the first countries to enter a new year.
Kiribati is an island country spread across the central Pacific Ocean. Its Line Islands, including Kiritimati, use UTC+14, the world's most advanced civil time zone. That position places them ahead of locations to the west when the International Date Line is considered.
Kiribati moved the International Date Line around its territory in 1994 so that its islands would share the same calendar date. Before the change, the country was divided by the date line, making routine administration and communication difficult.
Kiritimati is often called Christmas Island, but it is not the Australian territory of Christmas Island. Kiribati's early New Year position is a time-zone fact, not a claim that every island in the country reaches midnight simultaneously; its territory spans three time zones.