Kiribati is often described as one of the first countries to welcome the New Year because of its UTC+14 time zone.
Kiribati is an island republic spread across the central Pacific Ocean. Its Line Islands, including Kiritimati, use Line Islands Time, which is UTC+14. That civil time places them among the earliest inhabited places to reach a new calendar date, making Kiribati a frequent subject of New Year's Eve coverage.
The country moved the International Date Line around its eastern islands in 1995. Before that change, different parts of Kiribati could be on different sides of the date line, complicating administration and communication. The adjustment aligned the country's island groups more conveniently within the same calendar sequence.
“First country” can be an oversimplification because the exact first inhabited location depends on the definition used and on time-zone boundaries. Kiribati remains the canonical country answer, while Kiritimati is the specific island most often mentioned in countdown reports.