Kiritimati is often among the first inhabited places to enter a new calendar year.
Kiritimati, also known as Christmas Island, is part of Kiribati in the central Pacific Ocean. It lies in the UTC+14 time zone, the world's most advanced civil time zone, so its local midnight arrives before midnight in nearly every other populated location.
Kiribati moved the International Date Line eastward around its eastern islands in 1994. The change placed the country's widely separated island groups on the same calendar day, while also making the Line Islands among the first places to experience each new date.
“First” claims can depend on whether one means a country, an inhabited island, or a specific settlement. Kiritimati is a precise geographic answer, while Kiribati is the country commonly mentioned in general discussions of New Year's timing.