Kiribati is the Pacific island nation first to enter the New Year because Kiritimati uses UTC+14. Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, belongs to Kiribati’s Line Islands and lies on the eastern side of the International Date Line.
Kiribati moved the date line for its eastern islands in 1995 so the entire country could share the same calendar day. Before that change, the Line Islands were among the last places on Earth to begin a new date, despite their geographic position.
The distinction belongs specifically to Kiritimati and the other Line Islands, not every part of Kiribati. The country spans several widely separated island groups, and its time zones range from UTC+12 to UTC+14.
Nearby Tonga and Samoa are also early New Year destinations, but their standard time zones are behind Kiritimati’s. The exact order can be discussed differently if daylight-saving changes or uninhabited territories are included, which is why Kiritimati is the usual inhabited-location answer.