Kiribati was the first Pacific island country to welcome New Year 2000 after moving across the International Date Line.
Kiribati consists of widely separated islands, including the Line Islands in the central Pacific. In 1995, the country altered the date-line arrangement for its eastern islands so that all of its territory would share the same calendar day.
The change placed Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, among the first inhabited places on Earth to enter a new day. As a result, Kiritimati received major international attention during the approach to January 1, 2000.
The important distinction is between Kiribati as the country and Kiritimati as the island most often named in reports. The date-line change did not make every part of Kiribati enter the new year at the same instant, because the country spans several time zones.