Kiribati is among the first countries to enter the New Year because Kiritimati uses UTC+14.
Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is part of Kiribati's Line Islands. Its time zone, Line Islands Time, is UTC+14, the world's most advanced civil time offset. As a result, midnight arrives there before it does in locations farther west, even though the island lies near the International Date Line.
Kiribati shifted the date-line arrangement for its eastern islands in 1994. Before that change, the country was divided by the date line, which made its islands fall on different calendar days. The adjustment placed the Line Islands on the same calendar side as the rest of the country and created a convenient sequence for observing the new year.
Kiritimati is not the only Pacific location to celebrate early; nearby Pacific islands have also become associated with early New Year moments. However, the exact order depends on time-zone rules and local observance, not simply on a place's longitude.