Samoa moved its standard time zone west of the International Date Line in 2011.
On December 29, 2011, Samoa skipped December 30 and moved from the eastern side of the International Date Line to the western side. The change made Samoa's calendar align more closely with major trading partners such as Australia and New Zealand.
As a result, Samoa went from Thursday, December 29, directly to Saturday, December 31. The country did not experience a local Friday that year. The change is especially notable in discussions of New Year's Eve because Samoa thereafter reached the new calendar year earlier relative to many locations in the Americas.
Samoa is distinct from American Samoa, which remained on the eastern side of the date line. They are separate political entities despite sharing cultural and historical ties, so references to Samoa's date-line change should not automatically be applied to American Samoa.