Kiribati is the Pacific island country associated with the first New Year's celebrations using UTC+14 on Kiritimati.
Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, lies in Kiribati's Line Islands. Its civil time is UTC+14, the world's most advanced time zone, so the island reaches a new calendar date before most other inhabited places.
Kiribati moved the International Date Line eastward around its territory in 1994. Before that change, the country's island groups were divided by different calendar dates, which made administration and communication difficult. The adjustment placed the Line Islands on the same side of the date line as the rest of the country.
News reports often simplify this by calling Kiribati “the first country to enter the New Year.” More precisely, the earliest celebrations occur in its Line Islands, including Kiritimati, rather than simultaneously across every island in the country.