Samoa moved west of the International Date Line in 2011 to align its calendar more closely with Asian trading partners.
Before the change, Samoa’s civil time was 21 hours behind Sydney and about a day behind much of East Asia. The government decided that being on the same working week as Australia, New Zealand, and Asian markets would simplify business and communications. Samoa changed sides of the date line by advancing its clocks 24 hours at the end of December 29, 2011.
As a result, Friday, December 30, 2011, did not occur in Samoa. The next calendar day was Saturday, December 31. The change is often described as Samoa “skipping a day,” although no physical time disappeared; the country adopted a different relationship between its local clock and the international date system.
American Samoa, a separate U.S. territory, remained on the opposite side of the date line. That distinction is a frequent source of confusion when comparing New Year celebrations in the Samoan islands.