Kiritimati is one of the first inhabited places to enter the New Year because it observes UTC+14.
Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is part of Kiribati in the central Pacific Ocean. It lies in the Line Islands, which use one of the world's most advanced civil time offsets, UTC+14. When midnight arrives there, much of the world is still on the previous calendar date.
Kiribati changed its date-line arrangement in 1994 by moving the International Date Line east of its eastern islands. The change placed the Line Islands on the same calendar day as the country's other island groups, despite their position on the opposite side of the conventional date-line area.
Kiritimati is often described in media reports as the first inhabited place to celebrate the New Year. Exact “first” claims can depend on the definition used, because several islands and time-zone boundaries may reach midnight at the same time. The robust fact is that Kiritimati observes UTC+14.