Kiribati uses UTC+14 in the Line Islands and is among the first places on Earth to enter the New Year.
The Republic of Kiribati spans a wide area of the central Pacific Ocean. Its eastern Line Islands, including Kiritimati, lie on the side of the International Date Line that gives them the earliest civil time zone, UTC+14. As a result, midnight arrives there before it does in most other inhabited places.
Kiribati moved the date line for its eastern islands in 1995. Before that change, parts of the country were separated by a date difference despite belonging to the same nation. Aligning the islands made it easier for the country to share the same calendar day and improved administrative and commercial connections.
Kiritimati is often described in news reports as one of the first inhabited places to celebrate New Year’s Day. The precise claim depends on how “first” is defined, because several islands and time zones reach midnight close together.