Samoa is the Pacific island country that celebrates New Year's Eve at Apia after moving west of the International Date Line in 2011.
Samoa skipped December 30, 2011, when it moved from the eastern side of the International Date Line to the western side. The change aligned the country’s working week more closely with major trading partners in Australia and New Zealand.
Apia, Samoa's capital, became one of the first populated places to enter each new calendar day after the change. The decision also changed Samoa's relationship with neighboring American Samoa, which remained on the other side of the date line at that time.
The date-line story is often confused with Kiribati, whose Line Islands include Kiritimati and are also among the earliest places to reach a new day. Tonga and Fiji are likewise Pacific countries that celebrate early, but Samoa is the country identified by the 2011 date-line switch described here.