Kiribati is widely recognized as one of the first countries to enter the New Year because parts of it use UTC+14.
The Pacific island nation includes the Line Islands, where Kiribati's time zone is 14 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is the best-known inhabited location in that zone and is frequently highlighted in global New Year's coverage.
Kiribati moved the International Date Line eastward around its territory in 1995. The change placed all of the country's islands on the same calendar date, avoiding the awkward situation in which different parts of Kiribati were separated by a day.
Being among the first to celebrate depends on the location's time zone, not on the country's size or its capital. Other Pacific locations also enter the new year early, so “first” claims should be understood geographically and in relation to the date line.