Kiribati celebrates New Year’s Eve at midnight in the UTC+14 time zone, the world’s most advanced standard time zone.
The relevant islands are the Line Islands of Kiribati, including Kiritimati, also known as Christmas Island. In 1995, Kiribati moved the International Date Line around its eastern islands by adopting the same calendar date across the country. This change placed the Line Islands on the early side of the date boundary and made them among the first inhabited places to enter a new calendar year.
Kiribati is an island country in the central Pacific made up of the Gilbert, Phoenix, and Line island groups. Not every island uses UTC+14: the Gilbert Islands use UTC+12, while the Phoenix Islands use UTC+13. The answer therefore refers specifically to Kiribati’s Line Islands, not to every location in the country.
Claims that one place is absolutely “first” can depend on whether the comparison includes uninhabited territories, ships, or different definitions of sunrise. UTC+14 is the precise time-zone fact behind Kiribati’s famous New Year status.