Samoa moved its 2011 New Year’s Eve across the International Date Line by skipping December 30.
At the end of 2011, Samoa changed from the eastern side of the International Date Line to the western side. After Thursday, December 29, the country went directly to Saturday, December 31. The change put Samoa on the same calendar side as key trading partners such as Australia and New Zealand, even though it meant losing an entire calendar date locally.
The move is often confused with the independent decision of Tokelau, which also skipped December 30, 2011. Samoa’s change concerned the country of Samoa, whose capital is Apia. The International Date Line is not perfectly straight and is established by national choices as well as geographic convention, so countries can alter their legal time zones.