Kiritimati is often among the first inhabited places to welcome the New Year.
Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is part of Kiribati in the central Pacific Ocean. It observes Line Islands Time, UTC+14, the world’s most advanced standard time zone. As a result, midnight arrives there before it does in most other inhabited locations.
The island’s name can confuse international readers because Australia also has a Christmas Island, which is a different territory in the Indian Ocean. Kiritimati belongs to Kiribati and is located in the Pacific, near the International Date Line.
Being first depends on the time-zone arrangement and on whether a place is inhabited, rather than on the island’s position alone. Kiribati shifted the date line for its eastern islands in 1995, aligning the country’s calendar across its territory and helping make the Line Islands among the first locations to enter each new year.